Brunswick Stew

I don't have a picture of this for you, but I wanted to share it, anyhow. I had Brunswick Stew while I was in Virginia last September and I was pining for its warm, hearty sweetness throughout our cold wintry spring here in Seattle. Though in no way authentic (we've made quite a few changes to the recipes we could find), this makes a marvelous (and BIG!) pot of stew, just the thing for steeling a body against the cold. Enjoy with brown-sugar cornbread!

3 strips bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces
2 full duck breasts (4 halves), about 12 oz.
2 yellow bell peppers, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
2 small or 1 medium-large yellow onion, diced
28-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup cream sherry
2 cups chicken broth
3 bay leaves
3 ears corn
8 oz (frozen or fresh) lima beans
8 oz (frozen or fresh) cut okra

In large saucepan over medium-high heat, brown bacon pieces. Remove from pan, leaving fat. Add duck, skin side down, cook approximately 10 minutes. Flip duck breasts, cook approximately 2 more minutes. Remove duck from pan, pour off all but 2-3 Tbsp. of the fat in the pan.

Add peppers (yellow and orange, diced), and diced onion to pan. Add 1 Tbsp. flour with vegetables to make a roux. Brown vegetables in duck/bacon fat, approximately 10 minutes, stirring to keep flour from burning.

Add sherry, broth, and bay leaves to pan, scraping browned bits up from the bottom. Return pieces of shredded duck meat to pan and reduce heat. Simmer 1 hour.

Cut kernels from corn. Add corn, lima beans, and okra to pan and cook additional 10 minutes.