Traditional Irish stew: the cozy midweek dinner Idea you'll love

A deliciously simple Irish Stew recipe perfect for a family weekly dinner, a warming winter treat, or St Patrick’s Day main.

Irish stew is a warming and filling dish made with lamb and vegetables.

As the name suggests, this dish as stew, so you make it the hob (as opposed to a casserole, which would be in the oven), by slowly boiling all the ingredients to make a rich and flavorsome one pot meal.

Irish stew comes from poor cooking and is made with whatever vegetables would have been available at any given time.

Most typically, these were carrots, onions and while you can let your creativity take over using pretty much whatever you happen to have in the house, this is very much the combination I use at home and it’s delicious!

This is how I make it. I use two different pots: one standard pot to cook and then my cast iron casserole pot for the last step and to serve.

Simple Irish stew Ingredients

1 kg Lamb – remove skin, trim excess fat and chop in cubes of about 5cm each
1/2 Kg Potatoes – peeled, washed and chopped in large pieces
100 gr Onion, finely sliced
1 celery stalk, finely sliced
1 leek
2 Carrots
Parsley, thyme, bay leaf bouquet garni

Tools

Two large pots
Skimmer
Ladle
Sharp knife

Method

Place your lamb into a large pot and cover with cold water. Put on the stove, bring to the boil and skim as needed.

Season, add your herbs, and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Once this time has passed, add the potatoes and the diced vegetables and let it all simmer until everything is thoroughly cooked.

Once everything is done, you can adjust seasoning as serve as is but, more likely than not, you will find yourself with a dish that is a bit too watery.

Don’t despair, this is normal! And the solution is easy.

Take a second pan and use a skimmer to move your meat, veg and potatoes into it. Then, pour only part of the boiling liquid back onto them: use as much or as little as you want to get the texture you prefer.

Put the new pot back on the stove and let is cook: the liquid will partially evaporate making the whole texture thicker and the dish drier.