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The potatoes are now peeled, chopped, and in the stew, and it's coming back to the simmer. It's important in stew not to boil it. "A stew boiled is a stew spoiled", as my father would intone in the direction of my youngest brother (the usual designated stew watcher). So it has to stay at a steady simmer rather than a boil. I'm now looking in the direction of the other ingredients, over a turkey sandwich and some apple juice, which seem to be lunch. The essential ingredients, without which you cannot have stew, are meat, potatoes, carrots, turnips and onions. Optional extras are just about any solid vegetable or legume. Nobody else around here seems to like the legumes, so they won't be going in here, but there're celery, leeks, and possibly some apples going in this one. There are peppers there too, but that just seems wrong. And I know from experience that courgettes can foul up the whole stew.
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