Irish Lamb Stew

Irish Lamb Stew

Wednesday was my son Patrick's birthday, and he requested Irish Lamb Stew for his birthday dinner.  I was planning on making something Irish Tuesday for St. Patrick's Day, so this will be a belated St. Pat's Dinner too. 

Here's the recipe:

Irish Lamb Stew

INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs. lamb stew meat
2 cups peeled rough chopped carrots
2 cups halved baby potatoes
1 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes
3 cups unsalted beef stock
1 tbs of finely minced fresh rosemary
one 12-ounce Irish Ale (I used Smithwick's Premium Irish Ale)

Smithwick's Irish Ale

vegetable oil
all-purpose flour
PROCEDURE:
Generously season the stew meat with salt and pepper on a baking tray and then toss that with all-purpose flour to coat.
Even though we're using a slow cooker, we still need to brown the meat up, in batches, in a large wide heavy bottomed pan on medium to medium high heat in a little vegetable oil and, once it has browned, add it to the slow cooker.
As soon as the meat is out of the pan, add one large rough chopped onion and 1 tbs of finely minced fresh rosemary and, at this point, add one 12-ounce Irish Ale to the pan. Use a wooden spoon to help scrape up the flour that's stuck to the bottom of the pan and let that cook along for a minute to soften the onion.
At that point, add one 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes and 3 cups of unsalted beef stock and bring that up to a simmer.
Meanwhile, add 2 cups of peeled rough chopped carrots and 2 cups of halved baby potatoes to the slow cooker and, once the beef broth is warm, carefully add that to the slow cooker.
Then put the lid on top and cook it on high heat for 4 - 5 hours or low heat for 8 - 10 hours.

Flour the meat.

Brown the meat.

Add ale, onions and tomatoes.

 

Add browned lamb to crock pot. 

Put veggies on top of meat in crock pot.

Add the broth mixture (onions, tomatoes, Irish ale, beef broth)

Ready to eat.

This was perfect for Patrick's birthday celebration!
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