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irish stout lamb stew

by:
March 12, 2015
0
0 Ratings
irish stout lamb stew
  • Serves 8
Author Notes

Tender lamb, with carrots, pearl onion, peas and potatoes slow braised in Irish stout. Better than green beer on St. Patty’s Day! —garlic and zest

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 leek, rinsed, sliced lengthwise then crosswise into 1/2" pieces
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 2 slices bacon, chopped
  • 2 pounds lamb from a leg of lamb, chunked into 1" pieces, excess fat and silver skin trimmed
  • 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
  • 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
  • 4 small red skinned potatoes, quartered
  • 4 sprigs thyme
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 1/2 cups beef broth
  • 1 14 ounce can irish stout beer, such as Guinness
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 cup frozen pearl onions
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a large dutch oven, brown the chopped bacon over medium high heat. Transfer crisped bacon to a paper towel lined dish. Set aside.
  3. In two or three batches, brown lamb in dutch oven, using bacon fat to sear the meat. Use tongs to turn the chunks of lamb over and brown all sides.
  4. Add all the lamb back to the pot and stir in the leeks, celery and onion. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes until vegetables begin to soften. Add the chunks of parsnips, carrots and potatoes.
  5. Knot a piece of string around the thyme and rosemary and add to the pot. Add bay leaves, broth and stout. Heat just to boiling, place the lid tightly on the pot and transfer to the oven. Braise for 2 1/2 hours.
  6. Remove pot from the oven and stir in the cornstarch and water mixture to thicken sauce slightly. Add the peas and pearl onions, stir to combine and place the lid back on the pot to warm them through. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and reserved bacon.
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  • garlic and zest
    garlic and zest
  • Mindy Stone
    Mindy Stone

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2 Reviews

garlic A.
garlic A. May 17, 2015
I'm glad you liked it, Mindy! If you'd like to make it thicker, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with 1 teaspoon of water -- add it to the stew and let give it a minute to cook. Keep adding in those increments until you get the consistency you like. Another method is a beurre marnier -- equal parts flour and butter, mashed into a paste, then whisked into the boiling liquid. Just make sure it's completely blended - you don't want clumps of flour in your sauce.
 
Mindy S.
Mindy S. May 16, 2015
Made this tonight for a new neighbor we wanted to get to know. The taste was really good, though the cornstarch didn't thicken the sauce very well. Needed to be a bit thicker, but will make this again.