Happy St. Paddy’s Day

and we are celebrating with Irish Stew

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!

Or whenever you are reading this post!

It’s St. Patrick’s Day and we are celebrating with this Irish Stew…and pretending we are in Ireland.

Or wherever it is that clovers grow and leprechaun’s run wild.

I have to be completely transparent here…Scott is the one who makes the beef stew in our family.

But he was out of town and I have always wanted to make it because it’s one of my favorite meals, especially that he makes.

And I have to say…I didn’t do too bad.

Scott actually says he likes mine better, but he’s just being nice.

His is thicker, but he says he likes it that mine isn’t so thick.

Doesn’t matter because folks, we have a winner here.

Let’s dive in…there are several steps…but we don’t want to cook everything at one time.

This keeps the potatoes and carrots from getting all mushy.

We are going to start with some nice lean stew meat…about 2 pounds.

I laid mine out on a cookie sheet and seasoned them 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper. Just sprinkle over the the top.

Now, we are going to sear the stew meat…which is a process that really enhances the flavor of the meat.

And don’t wig out on me if you are a beginner cook…all we are really doing is browning the meat on both sides just to lock those flavors in.

And then removing it from the pan, which also leaves a nice caramel sediment in the bottom of your pan that will also enhance the flavor of our stew.

Y’all still with me?

Now, we are going to sear in two batches, dividing our meat in half, and being careful not to overcrowd in the pan.

On medium to high heat, add 1 tsp of the olive oil to the pan.

Let the oil get hot and add first batch of meat and sear about 2 minutes on each side.

I removed the first batch and let the meat drain (if you use lean meat like I did, there won’t be much grease) on another cookie sheet lined with paper towels.

Repeat with other half of stew meat and remove to drain.

Next, add another teaspoon of olive oil to the pan and notice all those wonderful drippings in the bottom.

After the olive oil gets hot, add your chopped small onion and let it cook about 5-6 minutes until it’s soft.

Add 2 tsp of minced garlic and cook another minute.

Next, add one 6 ounce can of tomato paste and whisk it to get the onions and garlic incorporated.

Add your beef broth, Worcestershire Sauce and stew meat and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low.

Cook covered for 1 hour at this low heat. Stir occasionally just to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom.

While the meat is cooking, peel and cube 5 baking potatoes.

We like our carrots whole, so I didn’t chop them up, and I used a one pound bag of baby carrots.

After the meat has cooked an hour, add the potatoes and carrots and cook another 30-45 minutes until they are both tender.

This is also where I added the other one half can of beef broth.

And this my friends is how they do it in Ireland.

And how we are doing it in the good old United States of America.