Recipes & How-To's
Irish Stew

Irish Stew

This hearty winter stew can be made with either lamb or beef and is flavoured with your choice of stout beer or red wine. We thicken it with a traditional butter paste known as a beurre manié.

Cook time

1 hr 10 mins

Recipe Difficulty

Medium

Yield

Serves 8

Ingredients

  • 3 lb (1.5 kg) boneless lamb, cubed or boneless beef chuck steak, cubed
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 1/2 cup stout or dry red wine
  • 8 cups chicken broth or water
  • 4 cups cubed peeled yellow potatoes (½ inch)
  • 2 cups chopped onions
  • 1 cup cubed carrots (½ inch)
  • 1 cup cubed parsnips or turnips (½ inch)
  • 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 3 sprigs fresh thyme*
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary*
  • 2 bay leaves*
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup salted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen green peas

Directions

  1. Sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add lamb and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium.
  3. Add stout and cook, scraping to loosen browned bits. Cook, stirring, until liquid is reduced by half, about 8 – 10 minutes.
  4. Add broth, potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips, garlic, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves; stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 20 – 25 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, knead flour into butter to form a paste; set aside.
  6. Remove and discard thyme, rosemary and bay leaves from lamb mixture. Add butter paste and cook, stirring, to dissolve. Bring to a boil.
  7. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
  8. Stir in peas and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

Nutritional analysis per serving

*Ingredient not included in nutritional analysis.

436 calories, 16.1 g fat, 42.9 g protein, 30.1 g carbohydrate, 4.5 g fibre, 873 mg sodium