Irish Crock-pot Stew (Serves 4)

Deb April 4, 2006
  • 600gm diced lamb
  • 3-4 medium potatoes, diced
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 1 cup green beans, sliced
  • 2 stalks celery, sliced
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 small bay leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon dried mint
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
  • 1 tsp sea salt (if using stock, a bit more if using water)
  • about 4 cups stock or water, just enough to cover
  • 4 tablespoons arrowroot

Cut the lamb into smaller, bitesize, chunks if necessary. If there are any big lumps of fat that gross you out, take those off, but otherwise, don’t worry about cutting off the fat. Layer across the bottom of the crock-pot. Lay the other vegetables across the top. Sprinkle the herbs on top, then pour on the stock. Cook for 6-7 hours on Auto-shift or Medium, or all day on Low.

Just before serving, remove bay leaf. Mix arrowroot with a little water in a pan, and gradually ladle in the stock from the stew, stirring all the time. Cook over a medium heat till the sauce thickens, but don’t let it boil. Stir gently back into the stew and serve.

Variations:

Irish casserole: If you don’t have a crock-pot and usually make casseroles, make the casserole in the way you usually would. Just coat the meat with bulgur instead. Or don’t coat the meat in flour at all, and thicken with arrowroot at the end instead. You can also cook it on the stove in a large pot – it will cook faster as the heat will be higher.

NZ stew: Replace potato with red kumera, and the mint with oregano

Curried lamb stew: Replace the herbs with 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp curry powder, and the stock with a can of coconut cream diluted with water. (This amount of curry gives a nice flavour without actually being a curry. If you want a real curry, add more spices). For this version, you could also replace the lamb with goat, available from any Halal butcher.