Irish Stew
A historical dish from Ireland. It was a simple food that was cheap and could be prepared in large quantities and preserved. The first recipes for this dish can be found in 17th-century notes. Today it is a common pub and restaurant dish. This dish is traditionally made from lamb or beef and various roots. Onions, parsley, and leeks are used as an additive, to make the sauce thicker, some of the potatoes are crushed in the sauce or a handful of barley groats are added during cooking. Some recipes also use smoked bacon to add to the meat, some recipes also use porter beer in addition to the broth. I received a bottle of delicious home-brewed porter for Christmas, which I used to prepare this dish.
There are many different ways to prepare this dish and I believe that they are all delicious. Here I will present my version, which was as tasty as I had hoped. You could set aside several hours to prepare it. The dish can be prepared faster, but it is especially nice when the meat is cooked until very tender and the flavors have blended nicely.
Preparation time: 3 hours
Level: Easy
Serves: Four
Ingredients:
800 g lamb, shank, neck, or any cheaper lamb cut into pieces
4-5 medium carrots cut into desired pieces, for example 2-3 cm pieces
6-7 small potatoes, halved
1 medium leek, finely chopped
2 medium onions, finely chopped
300 ml chicken or beef stock
300 ml porter-type dark beer
A large handful of chopped parsley
A handful of barley groats soaked overnight in cold water
About 0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt to taste.
0.5 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp cooking oil for browning
Preparation:
- The day before, soak a handful of barley groats in cold water.
- Cut the lamb into desired pieces and brown in cooking oil over medium-high heat until golden brown. Use a heavy-bottomed pot, preferably cast iron.
- Chop the onion and leek, cut the carrot into 2-3 cm pieces. Cut the potatoes in half and finely chop the parsley. You can peel the potatoes if you wish, but for a more rustic dish, it is better not to
- Transfer the meat to a plate and set aside.
- Brown the onion, leek and carrots in the oil and fat used for browning meat for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat.
- Add the meat and groats, mix through, and season with ground black pepper, oregano, and sea salt.
- Add the broth and porter. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and leave to simmer covered.
- After an hour, add the potatoes cut in half and the chopped parsley. The potatoes should be added later because they will otherwise become very mushy.
- Cover the dish again and simmer for about an hour until the potatoes and meat are tender.
- By this time, the dish should be ready, there should be enough liquid in the stew to almost cover the meat and vegetables and the sauce should have thickened a little. If the sauce is not thick enough, mash half of the potato with a fork and let the dish simmer for another 5 minutes.
Serve with fresh bread. You can add fresh parsley to the dish when serving.
Ready!!
