As you know, St. Patrick's Day is this Friday. Here at Wigglesworth Manor, we've been making Irish Stew for St. Patrick's day since 2012. That was the year that I had not remembered what day it was until it was too late, so I didn't have time to prepare myself to make a corned beef and cabbage dinner for the first time ever (all these years later, I still haven't made it!). 

Earlier that week, I had picked up a leg of lamb, planning to bake it with some vegetables, but as I was looking through my Taste of Home Cookbook for lamb recipes, I came across one for Irish Stew and decided that sounded like a pretty good dish for the day. Later on, I caught an episode of the Rachael Ray Show where one of the guests mentioned that in Ireland, they eat lamb on St. Patrick's day, and I knew that it was meant to be! 

The stew was so good that there were no leftovers and we decided that Irish Stew would be our family's traditional St. Patrick's day dish! 

You Will Need:

1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of all-purpose flour, divided

11/2 pounds of  lamb stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes (call your local butcher, they can help)

3 Tablespoons of olive oil, divided

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced 

4 cups of reduced sodium beef broth

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces (I usually just use 2 handfuls of baby carrots and cut them in half)

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

2 Tablespoons of water

Directions:

1. Place the 1/3 cup of flour in a large zip top style plastic bag. Add the lamb, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat.

2. In a Dutch oven, heat 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil, over medium-high heat. Brown the lamb, in batches, removing and setting aside once browned. In the same pan, add the remaining 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the onion until tender. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

3. Add the beef broth, stirring to loosen any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the lamb to the pan and bring the ingredients to a boil. Reduce the heat to low-medium, cover and simmer for 45 minutes- 1 hour, or until the lamb is tender. 

4. Add the potatoes and carrots; cover and cook until the vegetables are tender, about another 30 minutes.

5. Add the salt, thyme, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce to the stew. Combine the remaining 1 Tablespoon of flour with the 2 Tablespoons of water in a small bowl, and mix until smooth. Stir the flour mixture into the stew and bring it to a boil, cooking and stirring for another 2 minutes, or until thickened.

And there you have it. We hope you enjoy the recipe, and if you decide to use it for Friday, we'd love to see some pictures! Be sure to share them with us via Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.