Happy St. Paddies Day!

Is it any wonder that I am going to post a Irish Stew Recipe from the wartime.

One pound Mutton, wipe and cut and cover with cold water (remember that back in the day, the meat would have come with much less prep work done then we would expect our meat to have done), The fat on the meat would have been saved and rendered

Cook the mutton for one hour add one fourth cup of carrot, turnip an onion and one cup potato, cook for half a hour, salt to taste and added dumplings, After cooking them 10 to 12 min serve..

A pretty basic and plain lamb stew! but in keeping with the day..

Here is a Farmgal Lamb Stew-Soup, I went though my recipes pretty carefully on this, and made sure that I found one that would be with things that would have been growing even in winter time in England.

Dark Day One Pot Lamb Soup in Broth

1 tsp duck fat (can use whatever oil or fat you want to start your dish)
One Large Onion
6 Large Mushrooms-Diced
2 cups of chopped greens (a mix of spinach, kale, horseradish and Beet Greens, frozen for winter use)
1 tsp of minced garlic
1 tbsp of green onions and leeks (white and green parts), I used a cube of each frozen in water
2 Large Carrots-Peeled and sliced
3 Med Potato’s -Peeled and diced
1 pds of small diced lamb stew meat*
Salt, pepper, Keens Mustard, Turmic, Basil and Ginger to taste
1 quart lamb bone stock, with 1 quart water (this was a very light broth, if you want darker/heavier use a second quart of lamb stock or veggie stock to go with)

I cooked the onions, mushrooms and lamb till onion clear, and meat browned, then I added in the rest and simmered for around 40 to 50 min at a low-med heat, till the veggies were tender and done. Simple, easy and all done in one pot, a good hearty but very healthy winter soup..

* This was young tender spring grass-fed lamb, Its worth noting that this meat was from when I butchered out lamb legs, and that I had made sure to remove all silver skin from the peices(which can make them tough, and is often left on by butchers) as well as cutting off all extra fat bits, which I used to render into tallow, and I cut the peices into about 1/3 of the size typically seen in a store if you are buying beef stew meat.. this means that the meat peices were right around equal to the size of the carrot and potato peices.

If you are using older mutton or yearly lamb, or from the butcher lamb stew meat, I would recommend simmering for about another hour or so, till the meat is tender.