Irish Stew

This is a recipe for a humble Irish Stew. If you let it stew for a long time, you’ll be rewarded with an amazingly aromatic and flavourful dish, perfect for cold nights. It can be hard finding a butcher that offers lamb middle necks, but if you can find them, buy them! The meat is delicious and the bones will make you an amazing stock.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 middle necks of lamb (about 1.8kg), filleted and boned – you need to end up with about 900g pure meat
• 650g floury potatoes , such as King Edward
• 650g waxy potatoes , such as Desirée
• 1kg carrots
• 2 onions
• ½ teaspoon fresh Thyme
• Chopped fresh Chives and Parsley, to garnish

FOR STOCK:

• Bones from the lamb
• 1 large carrot, quartered
• 1 onion , quartered
• ½ celery stick, quartered
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 large sprigs of Thyme
• Large sprig of Parsley
• 6 black peppercorns, lightly crushed

METHOD:

1. Make the stock. Put the lamb bones in a large heavy-based saucepan with the carrot, onion, celery, herbs, peppercorns and 1 teaspoon salt. Pour in 3 litres water. Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for 2 hours.
2. Strain the stock through a fine sieve to remove bones and vegetables, then return to the pan. Boil until reduced to about 1.3 litres. (You can make the stock the day before – keep it in a covered container in the fridge, or freeze it for up to 3 months.)
3. Make the stew. Cut the lamb into large chunks. Peel the potatoes (keeping both types separate) and cut into pieces of similar size to the meat. Put the two different types in separate bowls of water to keep them white. Peel the carrots and cut into slightly smaller pieces. Slice the onions into thick rings.
4. Put the lamb in a large, clean saucepan. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, skimming off all the impurities from the surface. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
5. Add the floury potatoes, carrots and onions. Season generously and simmer for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the waxy potatoes and thyme. Simmer until the lamb is tender (15-20 minutes). Take off the heat, cover (don’t stir) and leave for 15 minutes. (You can make this up to 2 days ahead and keep in the fridge). Garnish and serve.