Oh, mares eat oats and goats eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy...

For the Irish, or Irish-at-heart, or purveyor of tasty foods for cold days, I bring you:

Lamb & Guinness Stew

You will need:

About a pound of lamb stew meat, cut into small pieces. (Why does stew meat never come in manageable sized bites?) ... You can use beef if you don't prefer lamb.
1 cup of Guinness Stout
1 medium onion, diced (always a default in my recipes)
about a pint of beef broth
5 carrots, sliced
4-5 russet potatoes (medium sized), cut into chunks similar in size to the lamb
4 crushed juniper berries
salt and pepper
EVOO

In a heavy stock pot, brown lamb in batches. (When browning, you only want to get some color on the outside... don't worry if it isn't cooked. It shouldn't be.) Remove from pot, and drain off any fat that may have accumulated.
Saute onions over medium heat until golden. Add Guinness, juniper berries, salt (about 1/2 tsp?), meat, and enough broth to cover meat. Let simmer for 1 hour, or until meat is fork tender. (This will depend on how large or small your chunks are...)

When meat is tender, add in potatoes and carrots. Taste broth and correct seasoning with salt and pepper. Let simmer until potatoes and carrots are done. So much depends on chunk size...!

Enjoy with some soda bread!


- In retrospect, I would have added peas, too. Perhaps in the leftovers...