Day 7: Irish Stew

Day 7 

Argentina 4 South Korea 1
Greece 2 Nigeria 1
Mexico France 0 

With the French playing their second game of the World Cup the choice of World Cup Kitchen today was an easy one. I decided on Irish Stew! 

My Irish stew is a bit of a labour of love so I would set aside some time for it. The process of cooking it is not difficult but the flavours need time and low simmering heat to come to the fore. Also when using stewing meat the more time the better is normally the thought process when cooking with it. 



The way I cook my Irish Stew is a mixture of lamb cooked in red wine with equal amounts of gravy and oxtail soup added. Your vegetables cook within the stew so they release all their natural stock into the stew when cooking adding to the flavour.

Ingredients
1 KG of Lamb or Beef
3 medium sized carrots
2 stick of celery
Good Handful of Green beans
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Red chilli
Punnet of cherry tomatoes
Jar of Tomato puree
500 ml of Bisto Gravy
500ml Oxtail Soup
Tin of Tomatoes
Squeeze of Tomato Ketchup & Worchester Sauce
1.5kg potatoes
Large glass of red wine
Plate of white flour

Cooking Utensils
2 saucepans – large ones for potatoes/stew

1 large non-stick frying pan

Chopping board

Sharp knife

Potato peeler
 

Preparation

- Chop meat into even chunks and roll in white flour

- Chop up onions & carrots & celery into even chunks
- Clean the ends from the green beans so they are all even in length
- Finely dice the garlic and chilli
- Peel all potatoes and chop into similar small pieces 

Cooking

- Brown all the meat in a non stick frying pan - medium to high heat
- In a large saucepan partly boil potatoes - this will speeden up the cooking time of the stew - if you have alot of time just skip this step
 

 - When meat is browned add the red wine and cook together for 20 minutes. The red wine will absorb slightly into the meat
- In the large saucepan sauté onions for 5-7 minutes on a low/medium heat, then add garlic and chilli
 

 A very Irish looking saucepan

- Turn up heat to medium/high and now stir celery and carrots and cook together for 2-3 minutes

- Add in your meat and red wine and cook together for 2-3 minutes
- Add your tomato puree, tin of tomatoes, tomato ketchup & worchester sauce and let this first initial flavour work together.
- Add Gravy/Soup (add equal quantities of Gravy and Soup) – stir mixture and turn down to simmer
 

- Now add the partly cooked potatoes and cook on a simmer with lid half closed for an hour stirring every 10 minutes. You can season with salt and pepper to your desired taste level
- After an hour add your cherry tomatoes & green beans
- Cook at a simmer for a further 30 minutes or until potatoes are cooked

Note: The last stage of adding the cherry tomatoes & green beans should be done in the last 30 minutes, the previous cooking can be alot longer if you have the time, just leave the sauce at the lowest heat available.

Enjoy!!!