Irish Stew

I recently made what I refer to as my "Irish Stew" to help us get in the mood for St.Patricks Day which is just around the corner. This stew is super easy and AMAZINGLY delicious. The only thing Irish about it is the use of Lamb instead of beef (which you can use beef if you so prefer it) and Guiness in the base. Let's get started.

1.5lbs Lamb Stew meat (or if you're like me and don't have the option...have your local butcher or meat counter cut a lamb roast into cubes. Be careful though. An exceptionally tender cut of Lamb will fall apart and become shredded in the stew)
2 larges potatoes diced with peel on
roughly half a bag of baby carrots chopped in half
1/2 a large onion
2 cups of Guiness
2 cups Beef stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1tsp thyme
1tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tbsp corn starch

To start off with I like to add the corn starch to the beef stock and whisk it until it's dissolved. You want to do this when the stock is at room temp or cold. Never hot as it'll clump. Add your meat and veggies into a crock pot. Mix your spices in with the stock and the guiness. Then add this to your crock pot. Cover and cook on high roughly 3-4 hours or until the veggies are tender (it's porbably going to be closer to 3). Remove the lid and turn heat to low. Cook for an additional hour with the LID OFF. This is crutcial as it allows the sauce to thicken.

This dish is amazing and can be served with any number of sides. We like it best with a rice dish and some herbed rolls. Herb Yeast Rolls are my fav but soda bread is also a good addition to sop up the sauce with.