Irish Lamb Stew

From Jamie Proctor

Says Jamie: Most of my family is descended from Irish immigrants, but my grandmothers weren’t big on family recipes or traditional meals, so there is no family recipe for Irish lamb stew. But the basics are pretty simple, So this will have to be our new old family recipe. (Says Martha: Obviously I neglected to get a photo of this soup as well.)

Ingredients

10 pounds bone-in lamb or meaty bones (I used hind shanks, neck bones are more traditional) if making the stock, or 3 pounds lamb stew meat plus 8 quarts prepared stock
3 tablespoons butter
5 pounds Yukon gold potatoes (or some mix of starchy and waxy potatoes)
2-3 pounds yellow onion
2-3 pounds carrots, peeled (or mix in some parsnips)
1-2 pounds turnips, peeled (or radishes or celeriac, go nuts)
3 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons black pepper
2 cans stout beer (one for you, one for the stew)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
fresh parsley and chives to garnish

Preparation

To make the stock:

Roast lamb shanks for 1 hr at 375, cool. Cut meat from bones and cut into chunks, separating bones, skin and trim for stock to get 1/3 lean meat and 2/3 bones and trim. Cover with bones and trim with water in a large stock pot, boil with one onion, one carrot, one turnip, 1 tablespoon salt for several hours to yield 8 quarts rich stock. Allow to settle and skim fat, reserving 3 tablespoons

To make the stew:

Toss the meat with some of the salt, pepper, and thyme and one chopped onion, refrigerate overnight.

Add enough fat from the stock (or butter) to coat bottom of a large Dutch oven or pot, put over med-high heat. Add the lamb meat chunks, brown on all sides.  Add the onion, cook until soft, stirring occasionally, while you cut the carrots etc. into 1″ chunks.  Add 1 can of stout beer, the carrots and other root veg, cook stirring occasionally while you cut the potatoes  into 1″ chunks. Add the stock, potatoes, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for another 30 minutes until potatoes and vegetables are soft and meat is very tender.

While cooking, drink other beer.

Serve with bread.

Jamie Phelps Proctor is an account executive with Local Foods.