I thought I’d share one of my favourite dishes since my husband has been nagging me to document it.   The problem with a lot of my dishes are that they are thrown together, on taste, and when I come to itemise it, I can’t remember amounts!  Needless to say, everything is subject to what you like to eat – sure, isn’t that the joy of cooking?  Making things that you’ll want to keep on eating!

My stew is non-traditional traditional for a few reasons.  Traditional Irish Stew tends to have chunks of lamb and root veg through it, and a lot of stew recipes you’ll find look quite soupy and ‘gourmet’.  This, my dear handful of readers, is completely missing the point.  It’s ‘pov’ food – you use what you have, and leave out what you don’t have.  It’s not meant to be fit for a queen (though any queen who can resist this isn’t worth my respect!).  A little advice for you – a lot of recipes you find online called Irish are nothing of the sort.  They are as big a fairytale as banshees and leprechauns (don’t tell them I said that!).  Stuff that no self-respecting Irish person, as they pull up their seat at their local curry house, would eat.  Burn that corned beef and cabbage image right out of your head, k?

What you also don’t see on (mostly American, unfortunately) food websites is that there is a vast diversity of style and ingredient in Ireland.  Like the accents, you can go 10 miles down the road and everything changes.  I’ll put on my narky voice and say now that you cannot homogenize Irish food and culture, you just can’t.  Stop it with the green beer and car-bomb cupcakes already!

And breathe.

My mum always made her stew with mince steak (ground beef for some of you), so that’s how I prefer it.  I’ve also added a few extras (the non-traditional) because it’s tasty.

As mentioned, all amounts are anyone’s guess!  A big pot will serve a family of 6, or 2 very hungry people for a couple of meals!

500g mince steak

2 onions, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

salt & pepper

curry powder (optional)

cajun seasoning/spicy season-all

1 tbsp dried thyme

8-10 medium/large potatoes (floury potatoes are my preference, but Maris Pipers also cook up well), peeled, quartered.

flour to thicken

chicken or beef stock (I use a litre carton of pre-made chicken stock)

1 can chopped tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 can chickpeas, drained

Start by ’sweating’ your onions, carrots and garlic.  Don’t brown the onions etc too much – slow and steady is best.  This part draws out so much flavour, so depending on the time, do this as long as you can.  My mum swears by slow-cooking onions.  I add the carrots here as well as they are full of yumminess, and if you have carrots that aren’t the best, this will make them more flavourful.

Then add the mince steak.  You can use lamb here if you prefer, but I’m a beef eater (minus the frilly collar!).  Brown the mince, break it up quite well – it’s actually quite nice to leave a few lumps in there.  At this stage I add some salt, pepper, thyme and either cajun seasoning or spicy season-all.  This dish is not meant to be spicy, so don’t go mad with chilli or anything, you just want a bit of flavour.

Mix well, add potatoes, can of tomatoes, and stock.  Bring to boil, then put the lid on and simmer gently.  The veg will cook in about half an hour, but like most stews, if you want it in a hurry…don’t make a stew.  Cook SLOOOOOWLY.  You can’t rush these things.

Towards the end of the cooking time, add your chickpeas.  The stew will need to be thickened – you can use cornflower, but I love using wholemeal plain flour – it requires a bit of guess work, but I usually sprinkle some tablespoons over the stew & mix well, allow to cook for a couple of minutes and then reassess if I need to add more.

And you’re done!  Except….stews are stubborn things.  You can certainly eat it straight away, but stew is ALWAYS better the next day.  Hey, I didn’t make the rules, the stew does.  As a family, we had a range of ‘condiments’ to add to our big bowl of stew – curry powder (seriously my favourite), brown sauce (for my dad), salt & pepper, Worcestershire Sauce.  Take your pick of any or none.

Et voila – she’s ugly to look at, but trust me, she’s beautiful on the inside.