Irish Stew

ingredients

1/2 cup flour
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 pounds lamb for stew, cut in serving pieces
3 Tbsp. fat
1/2 cup sliced onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
Boiling water to cover, about 2 1/2 cups (or replace with low-fat chicken or beef broth and a pint of Guinness or other Irish beer)
6 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 carrots, scraped and diced
2 or 3 white turnips (or parsnips), quartered
Parsley Dumplings (optional; recipe follows)

Parsley Dumplings:

2 cups biscuit mix
Pinch of nutmeg
1/8 tsp. thyme
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/2 cup boiling water or 1/2 cup milk

method

Blend the flour, salt and pepper and dredge the meat in the flour mixture. Reserve dredging flour to thicken stew later.

Brown well in the hot fat in a skillet. Transfer to a heavy pot. Cook onion in fat until lightly coloured, then add to the meat. Add boiling water (or stock/beer) to cover meat. Cover pot tightly, simmer at low heat 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Blanche potatoes by covering them with boiling water; drain. Add potatoes, carrots and turnips (or parsnips) to stew during the last 20 minutes. Cook until vegetables are tender. To thicken sauce, blend part of the flour mixture used for dredging the meat with sauce from the pot to make a thin paste, add this to the sauce in the pot, simmer until thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. If dumplings are to be added, prepare as follows:

Combine the biscuit mix with the seasonings, blending well. Add water or milk, stir to moisten. Drop by the spoonfuls on top of the boiling stew, cover and cook 12 minutes.