Who's Your Patty?

I follow Blake Shelton's Liver (@blakes_liver) on twitter. I recommend following it if you aren't easily offended. Hysterical. Anyway, that was the hashtag on one of its tweets yesterday. So, I couldn't resist using it as the title. Sorry for the immature cheesiness...

I felt like making my own corned beef was a little too ambitious to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. But one of these days, I'll make it. I've looked into it. Instead I made Irish lamb stew and Irish soda bread. It turned out wonderful. It would have been perfect for a windy, blustery day, typical for mid-March. Instead, today it was 76 degrees. I'm not complaining, though.

I'm counting this as my Dark Days meal. The lamb came from the Monroe Farm Market, but I can't remember which farm. The stew had organic onions, carrots and celery in it. It also had a little bit of flour in it from Reed's Mill Flours in Monroe County. It had some fresh parsely in it that wasn't SOLE, and some white wine. The bread was made from the same local flour, a little bit of baking soda and salt, and milk from Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, Virginia.

The hubs and I couldn't find a recipe we really liked for the Irish stew, so we kinda "winged" it. And it was awesome. So, I figured I'd share it.

St. Patrick's Day Irish Lamb Stew

1 lb lamb stew meat
3 medium potatoes, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 ribs of celery, sliced
flour for dusting lamb
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tb fresh rosemary, chopped
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 beef bouillon cubes

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven on medium heat. Pat the lamb dry with paper towels. Put about 1/2 cup of flour in a plate and season with salt and pepper. Place all the lamb meat in the flour and stir gently to coat. When the oil is hot, put the lamb in the dutch oven in a single layer. Brown the meat on all sides until a bit of a brown crust forms, 10 minutes or so. Add the wine and stir with a wooden spoon to loosen up the bits from the bottom. Add the vegetables, parsley and rosemary. Add enough water to cover and two bouillon cubes. Season with salt and pepper again. Bring to a boil. Place the lid tightly on the dutch oven and put in the middle rack of the oven. After 45 minutes, check the stew and stir. Bake another 15 to 20  minutes until meat is done and vegetables are tender.