Sofie recently turned 22 and to celebrate her mom and brother came over to visit. Since we are always treated to some tasty traditional Swedish dishes when we visit them, I thought I would try and serve something traditionally Irish for our first meal! One of the few dishes that I know well as being traditionally Irish is this Irish Stew.
We always had it growing up and I’m sure most homes across the country were the same. I used to have a serious problem with the potatoes, insisting they were picked out before I was served- much to my mom’s disgust!
There are many different takes on this recipe with many using lamb instead of beef, but this is the one we grew up with. I actually rang my mom the other day for the recipe, and she got a little bit excited and started adding all sorts of mad vegetables to it to make it more exciting, but at the end of the day Irish stew is Irish stew, so I’ve tried to keep it simple! Just like mammy used to make- without parsnips thank you very much! ;)
Irish Stew
This is a really tasty one pot dinner which is perfect for cold winter evenings. Ask your butcher for stew steak, which is normally available, but you can also use any other cheap cuts of meat. This recipe serves 6 people and you will need a large casserole.
3 tablespoons of wholemeal flour.
3 teaspoons of ground black pepper.
1 ½ pounds of stew steak.
2 tablespoons of sunflower oil.
4 large carrots, chopped roughly.
2 large onions, chopped into half moon pieces.
1 ½ litres of beef stock.
A good pinch of sea salt.
2 bay leaves.
5 large potatoes peeled and sliced into 1cm discs.
A good handful of freshly chopped parsley.
Preheat the oven to 200˚C/390˚F/Gas 6.
Place the stew steak, wholemeal flour, and black pepper in a resealable plastic bag. Seal the bag and give it a good shake so that all the steak pieces have a nice coating of flour and pepper. Heat a large frying pan with a good glug of sunflower oil and brown half the steak pieces. Transfer the steak pieces to the casserole. Repeat with the rest of the meat.
Fry the onions in the meat juices on the pan for 2 minutes, adding an extra drop of oil if necessary. Transfer the onions to the casserole. Add in the carrots, beef stock, sea salt, bay leaves, and stir through. Add the potato slices on top, season with a generous amount of black pepper and cover with the lid. Transfer the casserole to the oven and cook for 1 ½ hours.
Serve straight from the casserole to some large bowls with some tasty wholemeal bread. Sprinkle the parsley on top and enjoy!
