Irish Lamb & Guinness Stew

St. Patrick's Day was looming and I had not one idea of what to cook. Everywhere online I saw amazing recipes for desserts and Irish themed cakes and sweet treats, but no one was offering much in the way of a main dish, saving for corned beef and cabbage, and those weren't gonna go down well in our house.  That was until I read the latest post from Katie on What Katie Ate and I was set! I knew from the first glance that I wanted to make her Lamb & Guinness Pie and the Irish Mash wasn't too far behind.  My first thought though was that a pie wasn't going to work so well given our schedule - Thursdays we go to running group and so aren't home and done our showers until 7.30pm. Having to prepare and cook a pie after a run would mean dinner would mean dinner wouldn't be ready until closer to 10.  So I decided to compromise and go for a stew instead, which would mean that I could make it Wednesday night, and just heat it up Thursday after our run. Perfect!

I had to make a few changes - lamb in Canada is so much more expensive than back home and I was only intending on making enough for the two of us, so I made do with a little under 500g of lamb. I had also didn't have quite enough stock, as I had used it in the chicken piquant earlier in the week, so I added in the whole can where Katie only added the 1/3.  I then went for a stove-top method which was more stew-like and less like a pie.  It was pretty good, especially for a dinner that only required a quick stir and the flick of a switch after running, but it would have been undoubtedly better as pie. But then, isn't everything?

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

1lb lamb chops, cubed

1 large onion, roughly chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

6 cloves garlic,peeled

1 rosemary sprig

1 sprig of thyme

2-3 large potatoes, peeled and sliced

750ml chicken stock

1 can of Guinness

2 tbsp HP Brown sauce

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

1 tbsp fresh, chopped parsley

salt & pepper

In a heavy-based saucepan fry the onions over medium-high heat until translucent. Add in the lamb and brown in batches, to avoid the meat sweating. Return all the meat to the pan and add the garlic and celery and fry a minute or two more.  Add the potato slices and season. 

In a small bowl combine the stock, Guinness, HP sauce and mustard, then add to the other ingredients.  Add in the rosemary, thyme and then simmer, covered for about 40-45 minutes.