Recipe: Irish Stew with Pearl Barley

Serves 6

This is a real 'mammy dish' in that all the mums have a recipe for this. My recipe has a long tailed history and has satisfied several generations of my family and continues to frequently grace the table of all those on whom the recipe was bestowed. This recipe uses diced lamb but if you want you can use button neck chops either. This cheaper cut of meat benefits from the pro longed cooking time and as with the majority of stew style dishes it has added taste and flavour on day two.

Irish Stew with Pearl Barley

Prepared by Kevin Dundon

Irish Stew with Pearl Barley

Prepared by Kevin Dundon

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Ingredients

2 ½ lb/1.1kg neck of lamb -diced
3 carrots-peeled and diced
1 onion-peeled and diced
8ozs/225g chopped turnip
2 large potatoes
3ozs/75g Pearl barley
Parsley sprigs
1 pint/600ml stock or water

Method

Heat a large saucepan with a little oil and quickly brown off the meat quite quickly.
Add in the chopped carrots, onions and turnips and quickly fry off also.
Mix in the some parsley sprigs and the stock at this time and allow the mixture to come to the boil and then reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer.

After one hour of cooking add in the diced potatoes and the pearl barley and stir to combine the two. These two products will both act as thickening agent so you may need to add a little extra stock depending on the consistency you like in your stew.

Allow the stew to coo gently for another hour-this will make the meat nice and tender and will ensure a good product for you.

When the stew is cooked sprinkle the dish with a little chopped parsley and serve immediately with some deliciously creamy mashed potatoes.