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The Review - FOOD AND DRINK - Cooking with CLARE
Published: 30 April 2009

Irish stew

Wartime dish in a blitz on costs

Responding to growing demand for cheaper meals, Clare Latimer revives slow-cooked food that won’t cause a wounded wallet||

I HAVE a lovely reader in Belsize Grove who encourages me and writes to give me ideas.
She has asked if I could offer recipes to help working mums and dads produce really tasty and inexpensive meals when they haven’t got much time, and perhaps use cheaper cuts of meat that lend to slow cooking.
She says that when she was bringing up five children she would put them in front of Watch with Mother – without mother – and that was the moment she could sling together the evening meal and then forget about it until supper time. She even admits that she would raid the children’s money box to pay the milkman.
I wonder if she ever paid them back!
As we have just had rather a crunching budget with petrol price increases etc I feel this is appropriate so here are the two recipes that she has asked me to concoct.
To save electricity you could cook both dishes together and then freeze one for later.

Poor Man’s Goose
This is a good liver lover’s cheap wartime dish and I have to admit not one that I had heard about. I am using pig’s liver but you could use lamb or calves liver if you wish, although that is more expensive. A little fresh sage could enhance the flavour, but I wanted to keep the recipe in the style that it was accustomed.

Ingredients – serves 4
500g pig’s liver
1 tbsp dripping
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 medium onions, peeled and sliced
4 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
4 slices streaky bacon.

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.
Slice the liver into mouth-size pieces. Heat the dripping in a pan and brown the meat for about one minute per side.
Place some of the liver and juices at the bottom of an oven-proof casserole dish and top with some of the slices of onion and then potatoes; season with the salt and pepper.
Repeat in layers until all the ingredients are used up. Top with the bacon rashers.
Cover and cook in the oven for one hour. Remove the lid and cook for a further 15 minutes to crisp up the bacon. Serve hot.

Irish Stew
Such a great dish and so tasty.
You could make double quantities and then freeze some in portions for later.
Keep the veggies chunky for ease and time and also authenticity.
You can cut down on the stock and add a can of Guinness or just have the drink alongside the stew.

Ingredients – serves 4
1.5kg mutton neck chops
4 medium onions, peeled and quartered
4 medium carrots, peeled and chunked
2 medium parsnips, peeled and chunked
1 tbsp pearl barley, optional
550ml beef stock or water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 new potatoes, peeled so just washed well
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teasp fresh thyme
1 tbsp chopped parsley.

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.
Heat a large casserole dish and fry the lamb chops to release some fat and also to brown the meat. Add the onions, carrots, parsnips and pearl barley and gently fry for about three minutes. Add the stock and season with the salt, pepper and the fresh thyme. Cover and cook in the oven for one hour and then add the potatoes and stir gently.
Cook for a further one hour. Stir in the fresh chopped parsley and serve hot.

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