Clodagh McKenna's St Patrick's Day feast
This weekend, the world will celebrate St. Patrick's Day and the This Morning kitchen is no exception. Here at Television Centre, we’ve got shamrocks, we’ve got Guinness and we’ve got Clodagh McKenna showing us her Mum's classic Irish lamb stew!
Irish Lamb Stew with pearl barley
Serves 6
Ingredients
For the stock: 2 litres of water1 lamb bone 1 carrot 1 onion2 peppercorns1 bouquet garni
For the stew: 25g butter10 lamb chump chops, or 900g stewing lamb pieces Salt and freshly ground black pepper 4 medium onions, cut into thin wedges6 waxy, medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces4 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces100g pearl barley 2 sprigs fresh thyme
For the roux: 30g butter30g flour
Method
1. To make the stock, place all the ingredients in a saucepan and fill with cold water. Bring the pot to the boil and simmer for 2-3 hours. Drain off the stock using a sieve, and discard the vegetables and lamb bone.
2. To start the stew, preheat the oven to 150 oc and place a casserole dish over a high heat. Drop in the butter, and once melted, add in the lamb chops or pieces. Season with salt and pepper and fry on both sides until they are a nice brown colour. Remove the lamb to a plate.
3. Repeat the process with the onions, potatoes and carrots.
4. Spoon all the vegetables, lamb and pearl barley into the casserole dish, placing the potatoes on top, so that they don’t lose their texture. Remove all the leaves from the thyme, discard the stem, and add to the dish.
5. Cover the lamb and veg with the hot lamb stock, and place in the preheated oven to cook for 1.5 hours.
6. Meanwhile make the roux: melt the butter in a pan and whisk in the flour until it forms a paste.
7. Once the casserole has cooked, remove from the oven and ladle the juices from the stew into a saucepan. Slowly whisk in the roux to thicken.
8. Pour the thickened gravy back into the stew and serve with Clodagh’s homemade soda bread (recipe below).
Rosemary soda bread
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
350g wholemeal flour200g plain flour1 tsp bicarbonate of soda1 tsp salt 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped 350ml milk250ml natural yogurt
For brushing: 50ml milk and yogurt milk
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220 oc.
2. Sieve the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir in the wholemeal flour. With clean hands, mix the flours, bread soda and finely chopped fresh rosemary together.
3. Make a well in the centre of the powders. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk, and slowly pour into the well of dried ingredients. Use your free hand to mix the flour into the milk and yogurt as you pour - try and spread your fingers far apart so it resembles a trough. Make sure there are no dry patches, and that the dough is completely wet.
4. Pat your hands with flour and shape the dough into one round. Place on a floured baking tray. Flour a large knife and cut the shape of a cross into the top of the dough about two-thirds of the way through.
5. Brush the round of bread with the milk and yogurt mixture using a pastry brush, this will give a lovely golden colour to the bread once baked.
6. Bake in the preheated oven at 220 oc for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180 oc for a further 25 minutes. To test whether the loaf is cooked, tap the back with your knuckles - it should sound hollow. Leave to cool on a wire rack.