Recipe of the Week – Irish Stew
Recipe of the week - Irish Stew
Getting the family together can be a hard task, well not anymore with this easy to make, lovely to taste traditional Irish recipe. Just in time for St Patrick's Day!
All this requires is a bit of prep then you can sit down and relax (with a few pints of Guinness if you wish!) knowing everything is done.
It’s the ideal meal for the changing weather; it will certainly warm your cockles on an evening!
This simple Irish Stew recipe was a instant hit in my household, the rich flavours and mouth-watering taste means everyone will want more! The best thing about this dish is it only requires one dish; you can serve straight from the dish which means less washing up!
Dish facts
Serves: 6 (remember you can freeze portions for later!)
Costs: approx £8 (the herbs will last you ages!)
Prep time: 30mins
Cooking time: 2hours
Healthy switch: remove the bacon & butter, add more vegetables & switch the potatoes for sweet potatoes
How fattening is this? (1 low, 3 high): 2
Difficulty (1 low, 3 high): 1
WOW factor (1 low, 3 high): 3
You’ll need: a large casserole dish
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 200g smoked streaky bacon
- 900g stewing lamb
- 5 medium onions
- 5 carrots
- 3 bay leaves
- small bunch thyme
- 100g pearl barley
- 850ml lamb stock
- 6 medium potatoes
Optional
- Make an extra large batch & freeze it for those rainy days.
- Don’t like lamb? Use braising steak instead and use a beef stock instead.
- You can pick and choose what vegetables you want in there, we like to add celery in there!
- For a richer taste, add a can of Guinness- it really gives a nice velvety taste!
- For a more traditional take, don’t forget your dumplings! Put them in the oven 15 mins before the end (you can make them yourself or buy them pre made) Or if you don't want dumplings...a warm crusty bread is the perfect side treat.
- To be extra prepared, this can be made in the slow cooking if you’d prefer. Which means you can make it the night before!
Method
- Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3.
- Place the casserole dish on the hob, add the oil & fry the bacon until crisp. Add the lamb and cook until brown.
- Take the meats out of the dish and allow to rest.
- Add the onions, carrots and herbs to the dish, then cook for about 5 mins until softened. Return the meat to the dish and stir in the pearl barley & bay leaves
- Add the stock and the bunch of thyme & leave it to simmer.
- Add the chopped potatoes to the top of the stew then cover.
- Place in the over for 1 and a half hours, (or longer depending on your oven) you want the meat to be tender and the potatoes to be soft.
- Remove from the oven & get serving (though you might want to leave it to cool first, it’ll be hot!)
It's that simple! We say pass the bowls around and get stuck in! This heartwarming stew will leave you wanting more....
How would you make your perfect stew?