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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Lamb Couscous with Vegetables

Lamb with vegetables over couscous.

I was looking for a one dish meal the other day so I thumbed through my recipes and found this recipe for Lamb Couscous.  I usually make the full recipe and freeze what we don't eat.  It freezes quite well.  It's easy to get a quick meal by grabbing a container from the freezer and heating it.  Couscous, which we almost always have on hand, can be prepared in about 5 minutes.

Lamb Couscous with Vegetables

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

¾ lb boneless lamb stew meat

2 cups cubed zucchini

1 cup cubed rutabaga (yellow turnip)

½ cup chopped carrot

1 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic minced

1 cup low sodium chicken broth

4 tablespoons raisins

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin

¾ teaspoon ground coriander

Fresh ground pepper to taste

2 (15 ounce) cans low sodium chick peas drained

1 (14.5 ounce) can no-salt-added tomatoes undrained

1 ½ cups water

1 cup uncooked couscous

Preparation:

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large pot over medium heat.  Dredge lamb stew meats in flour to coat.  Brown meat and then set aside.

Brown lamb that has been dredged in flour.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to pot .  Add zucchini, onion, carrot, garlic and rutabaga.  Saute for 5 minutes.   

Vegetables ready to be sauteed.

Stir in chicken broth, lamb, spices, tomatoes, and chickpeas. 

Add chicken broth, spices, lamb, tomatoes, and chickpeas and simmer covered.

Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.

While the lamb stew simmers, prepare couscous.  Bring water to a boil in saucepan; gradually stir in couscous.  Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork.

Serve stew over couscous.  

Yields 6 servings.  (1 cup stew, ½ cup couscous)

We each had a serving, and there are four more servings in the freezer ready for a cold winter day.