MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN about the importance of the potato to the history of Ireland and to Irish cooking. The potato is said to have been brought to Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh, who planted potatoes on property he owned in Ireland sometime in the late 1500s, according to “The Food Lover’s Companion” (Barron’s, 1995).

A Helping of History
Irish peasants came to depend on the potato as their primary food source, so the potato blight that led to a potato famine during the 1840s devastated the population of Ireland. By some estimates, the famine caused more than a million people to starve and a million more to emigrate to the United States and other countries to escape starvation. Aside from death and disease caused by the famine, Irish birth rates fell by a third due to issues related to the potato famine. Despite this culinary tragedy, potatoes remain today one of the mainstays of Irish cooking.

In Ireland, potatoes crop up in a variety of recipes. You’ll find them in a dish called champ — served with green onions and a well in the center for some melted butter. They’re cooked with cabbage in a peasant dish called colcannon. They’re grated or mashed and formed into potato pancakes called boxty. And they’re combined with stewed lamb or beef to make Irish stew — another peasant dish traditionally construed of whatever ingredients the cook had on hand, cooked long and slow until all the flavors melded deliciously together.

A Memorable Meal
A dozen years ago, I was looking for an authentic Irish stew recipe to feature in the St. Patrick’s Day chapter of my second cookbook, “Savannah Entertains.” I was lucky that Pat and Howard Hackney, who now live in Michigan but own a house on Tybee Island, typically celebrate their March anniversary by preparing an Irish stew from a recipe given to them by an old friend. Along with fellow good cooks Jane and Tom Philbrick, they agreed to host an Irish meal for the cookbook.

The Hackneys’ original stew recipe called for a homemade stock that was used to cook the lamb and vegetables. The vegetables were then removed and pureed as a base for the meat. I have since gotten lazy — I use a combination of beer, beef broth and tomatoes for the stock, and instead of pureeing the vegetables, I just cook everything together and let it be. The result is a soul-satisfying March dish that makes the whole house smell wonderful. I am pretty sure the Irish peasants would approve.

IRISH STEW
3 pounds leg-of-lamb meat, cut into
     1 1/2-inch squares
1/4 cup Canola oil
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large Spanish onions, chopped
2 cups chopped leeks (wash well before chopping)
4 cups finely chopped cabbage
1 bottle of beer (suggest Guinness stout)
1 14-ounce can beef broth
2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
4 large baking potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup half-and-half
Spring peas for garnish
Shamrock toast
 
Heavily salt the lamb chunks and place in a covered glass dish overnight in the refrigerator. When ready to cook, saute the lamb chunks in the canola oil. Set aside. Add the olive oil and saute the onions, leeks and cabbage. Add the beer, beef broth, tomatoes and salt, pepper and thyme. Return the meat to pot. Cover and bring the stew to a boil, then place it in a 350-degree oven for one hour. Add the potatoes and stir so that they are covered with cooking liquid.

Continue cooking for 30 minutes more, until meat and potatoes are tender. If the potatoes are not tender enough, cook a few minutes more. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven. Whisk the flour into the cream.  Blend it into the stew and simmer it on the stove until the stew is thickened, about two minutes. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed.

Serve topped with spring garden peas and shamrock toast.
 
To make shamrock toast: Use any homemade bread or whole bakery bread. Slice 1/4-inch thick. Make cutouts with shamrock cookie cutter. Toast lightly. Serves 8-10.

IRISH SODA MUFFINS WITH WHITE CHEDDAR AND ROSEMARY 
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup (one-half stick) butter, chilled, cut
     into pieces
6 ounces coarsely grated white Cheddar
     cheese
1/4 cup fresh rosemary, snipped finely
     with kitchen shears
2 cups buttermilk
1 egg, beaten to blend
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease two 12-cup muffin tins. Sift together flours, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. (You can do this quickly in a food processor.) Stir in cheese and rosemary. Mix buttermilk and egg and add to dry ingredients, stirring just until blended (batter will be thick). Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Serve warm.

To freeze, cool thoroughly. Wrap tightly in aluminum foil and place in freezer baggies. To serve, bring to room temperature. Warm in oven for about 15 minutes at 300 degrees just before serving.

In my cookbook, the meal was topped off with a dessert called Whipped Leprechauns and a stiff Irish coffee. 

In re-reading the menu, I was reminded of the night when we all gathered to test, taste, share stories and enjoy a glorious meal.

In the event you’d like to do the same, the remaining recipes you’ll need are online at www.savannahmagazine.com.