Irish stew

• 800gDiced lamb
• 2 tbspVegetable oil
• 2Brown onions
• 4Carrots
• 1kgPotatoes
• 1 tspDried thyme
• 1 cubeChicken stock cube, in 800ml water
• 30gFresh parsley

Plus salt, pepper and water.

Method

1. 1

   Heat the oven to 160C (140C fan). Pat the lamb dry and season well. Heat the oil in a large casserole and brown the lamb in two batches, about 5 minutes each, until browned all over. Lift onto a plate.

2. 2

   Meanwhile, slice the onions and cut the carrots into thick chunks. Peel the potatoes. Thinly slice about a third of them and cut the rest into big chunks, keeping the chunks in a bowl of cold water.

3. 3

   Fry the onions in the casserole for 5 minutes, until softened. Return the lamb with its juices and add the carrots, sliced potatoes, thyme and the stock cube crumbled into 800ml boiling water.

4. 4

   Bring to a simmer, cover and cook in the oven for 1 hour.

   1 hr 2 min, mostly hands-off

5. 5

   Drain the potato chunks, stir them in and push them under the liquid. Return to the oven for 50 minutes more, until the lamb is very tender. The sliced potatoes will have melted into the broth and thickened it.

   50 min, mostly hands-off

6. 6

   Chop the parsley and stir most of it in. Season, then leave to cool and portion into tubs for the fridge or freezer.