Ingredients:
2 pounds lamb meat cut into cubes 6 carrots cut in half lengthways and chopped 4 medium onions, chopped 6 potatoes, peeled and diced 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 4 cups your preferred broth, as explained above Water, enough to help the broth in covering the ingredients 3 bay leaves Optional: I like a can of split pea soup stirred into the broth

Instructions:
Using a Crock-Pot or other slow cooker is not an old Irish tradition, but is a good plan. Put all the ingredients into your pot and set the temperature on high for 1 hour. Don’t remove the lid to check on it. Reduce the temperature on your Crock-Pot to low and continue cooking the contents for at least four hours. This will give you tender lamb pieces and the veggies will be cooked just right for a hearty stew. I don’t use the split pea soup because it’s green; I use it to thicken the broth a little. Many “authentic” Irish stew recipes call for using a bag (12-15 ounces) of uncooked split peas in the broth and boiling the heck out of the stew until the peas open and become soft. Using the canned split pea soup is more convenient, and I’m a big fan of split pea soup anyway. This adds to the delicious taste. You can make this stew any time of the year and you can use beef, chicken, pork or goat meat if you wish, instead. Be sure to make this using your Crock-Pot so you won’t have to do any stirring to keep it from scorching and sticking to the bottom of the pot. (If you decide on drinking some Irish coffee, just do it sparingly so you can enjoy the rest of the day!) Readers with questions or comments for Dave Kessler may write to him in care of this publication.