This was a lovely recipe. I only made a couple of additions and changes. Nearer the end of the cooking I tasted it, and found it slightly bland so I added two teaspoons of powdered beef stock. The recipe states that it be cooked for an hour and three quarters, I actually used my slow cooker and had it on for five hours. Apart from the smell that drifted throughout the house (with the help of the Irish soda bread), it was delightfully delicious and the lamb just fell apart.

I love Irish Stew,I use Lamb shanks cooked first in a pan of water then makeing a thick veg broth from the stock adding some barley, adding the spuds and the cooked lamb shanks for the last 20 to 30 minutes.

Fabulous! I will make this again, with more parsnips. I really liked the leeks,too.

It was okay, but it was a little bland, the potatoes took forever to achieve tenderness.

I made this as written, and it is very good. I did add some extra parsnips with the potatoes because I love parsnips. Made it with the Irish Brown Soda Bread on this site. A great meal. Might add some extra water next time when I add the rosemary and potatoes. Great!

I made this without the parsnip, rosemary, and leeks. Don't know if it was because of that but it came out somewhat bland and watery. I did put a bay leaf in at the beginning. Then I used some cornstarch to thicken the broth. My Irish roommate claimed it was good, then proceeded to put a layer of pepper on her stew... so maybe she was just being nice. =)

Turned out great! I thought there was too much water, though, so I left the lid off and let it reduce at the end. Ate it with beer bread. edit: Made it again and this time added celery with the carrots. I probably doubled or tripled the vegetables. I also used lamb neck meat this time, still on the bone, then pulled it off when it was tender. Great recipe and versitile!

This was tasty! I ended up using shoulder chops instead of a lamb roast because it's all my grocery store had; seemed to work fine, as long as you're sure to pull the bones out. I used my slow cooker. I soaked the chops in buttermilk overnight and browned them briefly in olive oil; then, in the same pan, I sauted the onions, carrots and parsnips until they started to get some color. I put the lamb into the cooker first, then the potatoes, then the onion/carrot/parsnip sautee (I didn't want the onions to break down completely during cooking), and then topped it with the chopped leeks and rosemary. Used 2 cups of chicken broth and 1 cup of water, and then cooked on low for about seven hours. Everything cooked nicely and the stew had a lovely flavor!

followed the recipe to a T -- turned out great, I didn't think it would be spiced enough, but the rosemary really helps. Paired this with the Irish Brown Soda Bread from this site for an Irish dinner.

Loved this recipe. Added a peeled and chopped turnip and made a roux to thicken it up a bit. It came out great! This is definitely a keeper.

AMAZING!!! I left out the rosemary since my family doesn't really go for it and added more veggies. It was fantastick. I love leeks and lamb together. This is a keeper. I never follow a recipe to the dot because I don't belive in measurments outside of baking. This is a great recipe to work with. I think it would work well in a crock pot too. Try adding some lemon. Lemon and lamb go together naturally as lamb is a very rich meat and lemon will freshen up the flavor.

EXCELLANT/ I added a little corn. and put in bay leaf b4 potato/ love it! OH one more thing, I used Beef broth instead of water, one 32 oz package did the trick.

Wonderful! I made this for tonights dinner and paired it with some home made Irish brown bread and it was sooooo good! It's now two hours later and I'm still stuffed :-) I only made a couple of small changes.. I used beef broth instead of plain water and I followed someone else's advice about adding the parsnips with the potatoes. I'm a fan of parsnips now! Thanks for the recipe!

I've said it before and it still holds true: this recipe is my gold standard for Irish stew. I made it for St. Patrick's Day dinner this weekend, and my family ate every bit--even the parsnips. Of course, I didn't tell them about the parsnips until later. Now they know they like 'em! Just a couple of notes: next time I'll cook a big chunk of parsnip and carrot with the lamb, but I'll add fresh parsnip and carrot later on so they won't disintegrate. Also, I sear the meat in batches and skim the stew as it simmers. Thanks for a great recipe, Ita!

I'm not sure if I like lamb so I used beef stew meat. This was so good and I really like the taste of parsnips, gave it a nice "bite". I let my potatoes cook a little too long and some of them fell apart but it was still excellent tasting.

Very good and aside from the chopping, it's relatively easy to prepare. I cooked it about an hour longer than suggested and the lamb was very tender.

Made the recipe exactly as written except without the leeks and it was excellent.

i used only guinness for the liquid and more veggies. killer.