Irish Stew with Soda Bread

Happy early St. Patrick's Day everyone !..... This year I wanted to try my hand at something, I have never eaten or made before for St. Patrick's Day, don't get me wrong I love the Fruit Glazed Corn Beef that I usually make, but I wanted something a little different this year. My husband and I both had a hand in making this year’s St. Patrick's Day dish, I really do love being in the kitchen cooking with my husband.

1/4 C. - Olive Oil

1 1/4 Lbs. - Stew Meat

3 Tbs. - Minced Garlic (Heaping Tbs.)

6 C. - Swanson Beef Stock

1 C. - Guinness Beer (I used the entire bottle)

2 C. - Barefoot Red Moscato Wine

2 Tbs. - Tomato Paste

1 Tbs. - Sugar

1 Tbs. - Dried Thyme

1 Tbs. - Worcestershire Sauce

2 - Bay Leaves

2 Tbs. - Butter

3 Lbs. - Potatoes (cubed)

1 - Small Onion (diced)

2 C. - Baby Carrots

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Heat oil in a large stock pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, lightly salt the beef and brown in batches. Once all of the meat is nicely browned, place it all back into the pot and sauté with the garlic for 1 minute. Then add the stock, beer, red wine, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, bay leaves and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to combine, and then bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low then cover and cook for 1 hour stirring occasionally. While the meat and stock is simmering, melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add potatoes, carrots and onion. Sauté the veggies until golden in color, about 20 minutes then set aside until the 1 hour has past for simmering the broth. Then add the veggies to the simmering stew and cook uncovered for another hour. After the second hour discard the bay leaves and season with salt & pepper. At this point you can serve or as I did use some corn starch and water to thicken the stew then serve.

Soda Bread:

3 C. - Flour

1 Tbs. - Baking Powder

1/3 C. - Sugar

1 Tsp. - Salt

1 Tsp. - Baking Soda

1 - Egg (lightly beaten)

2 C. - Buttermilk

1/4 C. - Butter (melted)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8x9 baking dish. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Blend the egg with buttermilk then pour into the flour mixture. Mix just until moist then stir in butter. Pour into baking dish and cook for 65 - 70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove bread from the pan and cool on a wire rack. My husband decided to cook the bread in his Traeger smoker, it cooked at the 325 for 60 minutes and it was simply perfect. The bread had a slight smoky flavor from the pellets and it really enhanced the bread. This bread was a wonderful addition alongside the Irish Stew.

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