St Patrick's Day: food for feasting Part 2

For every irish mammy there's 'the' authentic Irish Stew recipe, handed down from generation to generation. In other words, the recipe for the Great Irish Stew is, like all authentic traditional dishes, flexible. Heated debates rage between those who add carrots, or parsnips or, God forbid, barley. But all have the basic ingredients of sheep meat, mutton to be correct but until recently that had been hard to get so lamb became more commonly seen as the meat ingredient, onion and, of course, potatoes.

In days gone past using young lamb in a slow cooking stew dish like this was seen as wasteful, indeed it wouldn't happen. Lamb was anyway viewed to be not as flavoursome as mutton. Basically this is a one-pot dish in which the small cottager or small farmer could make use of an older animal and would have had the stew cooking, untended over a low fire during the day while they toiled away in the fields or around the house.

My recipe not only runs the gauntlet of adding carrots but I also add some parsnip because I like the slightly sweet taste it delivers. But I'm not a barley-in-my-stew fan. Not yet anyway, always open to try again... only not this year!

Now a quick word about potatoes which we Irish do know a thing or two about. Oh the shock when I first arrived in London and found potatoes labelled as 'white' or 'red'. What the.. no varieties!

Thankfully things have changed so do take note of the variety when shopping for the ingredients. Floury potatoes will break down on slow cooking and dissolve into the stock, waxy ones will retain their shape. I use a mixture or add my potatoes in stages so that some break down and slightly thicken the stock and the rest retain some bite. Although I must admit that I am a bit of a 'masher' with Irish stew, I just love the homely sloppy consistency which soaks up all that tasty stock. Enough of my bad table manners, to the main dish.

Irish Stew

Serves 4

2 large onions
1 kg lamb neck chops (mutton is more traditional) or stewing lamb
1 kg potatoes, (floury: Kerr's Pink, King Edwards, Desiree)
3 carrots
1 tblsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
Bay leaf
400 ml water / stock
Salt & pepper
2 parsnips (optional)

Peel the onions and slice them into rounds. Peel the potatoes as thinly as possible. Leave small potatoes whole and cut large potatoes in half so all are roughly of even size. Cut the meat into good-sized pieces. Small chops can be left whole. Leave any bone attached. Peel and thickly slice the carrots (and parsnips if used).

Place a layer of onions on the bottom of a heavy casserole, then some carrots / parsnips, then place the meat on top. Sprinkle chopped thyme and parsley generously, season well. Layer with the rest of the onions and carrots / parsnips with the potatoes. Sprinkle thyme and parsley again on top.

Add the water or stock according to your preference of a “dry” stew or a “wet” stew. A good stew should have some gravy but not be “too wet”. It’s best to add more stock later than too much at the start. Bring the stew to a boil, cover as tightly as possible. Either reduce the heat to a simmer and cook on top of the stove or place in a preheated oven at 160ºC (Gas Mark 3, 325ºF) for 2½ - 3 hours until the meat is tender. Keep an eye on it towards the end, and adjust the gravy by adding a little water if you think it too dry.

Serve hot with more fresh chopped parsley sprinkled on top and swirl in a little butter just before you bring to table.

This dish can be made in advance and reheated thoroughly before serving.