St Paddy's day

In honour of St Patrick's day,  I managed to prove I am not Irish by making Irish stew from a recipe I found on the internet.  I will post the recipe, but first I'll just send you to All Recipes UK:

Irish Stew with Parsnips

Fortunately the stew turned out really well.  I started in my 5 quart Kitchen aid dutch oven, but it quickly became apparent that it just wasn't big enough.  So I switched to the monster that was too big.  At some point I hope to have an in between size, but for now the beast works just fine.

I did change a few things,  I tripled the veg, used baby potatoes and ended up adding some cornstarch to thicken it at the end.   And because I hate leaving the stove on with a free range toddler in the house, I baked it in the oven at 300F.  So here is my version, in case I want to remember what I did later on.

Irish stew -
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1000g lamb shoulder, bone out

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 large onion, quartered

1 lb baby carrots from a bag

3  parsnips, peeled and cut into large chunks

4 cups water

25 baby potatoes, halved

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (optional)

1 leek, green part only, rinsed and coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon cornstarch in a little cold water to avoid lumps

		Preheat oven to 300F Heat oil over medium heat in a large stockpot or casserole pot. Add lamb pieces and cook, stirring gently, until evenly browned. Season with salt and pepper.
		Add the onion, carrots and parsnips and cook gently alongside the meat for a few minutes. Stir in the water. Cover and bring to a boil before turning the heat down to low. Simmer in oven for 2 hours.
		Stir in potatoes and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes before adding leeks and rosemary. Continue to simmer uncovered until potatoes are tender but still whole. Remove from oven and add cornstarch.  Simmer on stove top to thicken.