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Monday, March 12, 2012

Nanny's Irish Beef Stew


Saint Patrick's Day is this week, and it makes me think of my Irish ancestors, and the beautiful Emerald Isle they lived on before they came to America. Some arrrived in the colony in the 1600's, the last to arrive came in 1784 from Cork, and settled in South Carolina. They came to my hometown in Georgia in 1825, and put down permanent roots there. The family names were Blair and Andrews. My grandmother spent a lot of time with her grandmother, Elizabeth Andrews Hodges, a descendant of these families. She taught my grandmother to cook...and assured her that they were "lace curtain Irish"...not so sure what that means, but I heard it from my grandmother..a lot. :) This is my grandmother's recipe, and she called it Irish Stew...she also called all brown skinned white potatoes, Irish Potatoes. She thought cooking and food were all about family, and family tradition, and passed that idea on to me. Wow..how I loved my Grandmother!

Ingredients:
2# marbled stew beef, in cubes
1 box Swanson’s beef stock
1 box of water (measured in the empty stock box)
2-3 cans finely diced tomatoes (start with two, and add more if more tomato flavor is desired)
2 onions cut in cubes
4-5 potatoes, cubed
3-4 carrots cut in rounds
2 TBS vegetable oil
1 1/2 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. garlic salt ½ tsp. pepper
1 TBS flour for thickening

Instructions:
Put garlic salt and pepper on beef, dredge in flour, and brown in oil. Stir well. Add Worcestershire sauce, broth, water and tomatoes. Simmer for about an hour or two. Add onions, potatoes, and carrots. Cook until done. Taste, and add extra seasoning if needed. Serve in Irish Soda Bread bowls, or with Garlic Texas Toast (I use frozen kind.)





13 comments:

  1. This looks SO good! I love a good stew. I didn't have Irish ancestors but I did have a Scottish one who came to the USA and on into Salt Lake City, Utah with the first group of pioneers. I do LOVE the Celtic singers, watched them on TV last night! ;)

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    1. Julie, I have Scottish ancestors too..I love anything Celtic!

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  2. Patsy,
    Thank you for stopping by my blog, and your sweet words.
    My husband is Irish, but we usually make Corned Beef and Cabbage. We'll have to try the Irish stew:)

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  3. Hi Patsy! Thanks for visiting my blog and signing up to follow, I'm your newest follower;-) Looking forward to your posts and your southern style cuisine;-) I wish I had a bowl of your Irish stew right now, it's so cold here tonight and I'm looking at leftovers for dinner!

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    1. Thanks for visiting, Patty. No stew tonight, but I do have chili. :)

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  4. Thanks for the recipe Patsy - we love stew up here in the frozen north, lol!! It'll be spring very soon, but still plenty of time to give this one a try. I appreciated your stopping by my blog today and becoming my newest follower. You have a lovely blog and I really enjoyed reading about your family history. I'm happily following you back :)

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    1. Thank you very much for your visit, and the lovely compliments. Glad to have you here.

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  5. Thanks for stopping by my blog! I'm your newest follower! This stew looks tasty! My mom always made one similar to this...can't wait to try this version.

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  6. I LOVE Irish Stew! How wonderful that you are able to know so much about your ancestors. I only know that I have great, great grandparents who came from Ireland, but don't know much else about their history.

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  7. Well, Thanks for finding me earlier so I could find you back! You had me at Irish stew! One of our favorites. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better. xo Diana

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  8. good hardy and delish! Hope to see you at the Thursday linky party this week. xo

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  9. I love Irish Stew and yours sounds perfect, my friend!!

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  10. This looks superb! Thanks so much for sharing on Mix it up Monday...I see you've mentioned it on a couple of other blogs so thank you so much for spreading the word :)

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