Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with beef and Irish stout stew

Video: Cook up a hearty Irish meal for St. Patrick’s Day

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   >>> this morning on "today's" melting pot, we have a cookbook author and a third generation farmer at her family's bed and breakfast in ireland . we have a hearty irish meal for st. patrick 's day. good morning.

   >> good morning, tamron.

   >> pleasure to be here. let's launch in. i can smell the flavors already.

   >> we have this lovely irish beef. you're going to cook it.

   >> irish beef, what does that mean?

   >> well, in ireland , our animals are grass fed . we have the most beautiful flavor coming into our ingredients, it's in our irish butter and cheeses and meats.

   >> how is st. patrick 's day celebrated in ireland ?

   >> well, it is a big national holiday because, of course, st. patrick brought christianity to ireland in the fifth century. we have a huge celebration. but this year is a year of celebrations.

   >> and you added butter.

   >> yes, a little butter in there. and we sizzled the meat away and get it lovely and brown.

   >> okay.

   >> what we want is color and sweetness.

   >> how long do we cook this on each side?

   >> we are coloring it.

   >> coloring it.

   >> very nice. it's not cooking through and through. we've got that going.

   >> let's pretend we've browned that.

   >> we've browned our meat.

   >> and put our onions in and the onions have caramelized.

   >> irish onions?

   >> of course they have to be.

   >> pop in a little bit of sugar. this is irish stout.

   >> this is about what? 2 cups?

   >> a pint.

   >> makes sense then.

   >> that should do it. and i know normally we have our stout in a glass in ireland but we like to use it for cooking, as well.

   >> that's very nice.

   >> and we have some thyme and parsley. pop those in.

   >> what does the thyme add to this? lemony?

   >> just get the flavor. all kind of rustic flavor. we have some tomato puree here.

   >> okay.

   >> mustard. and the mustard gives it tang?

   >> mm-hmm. add to the broth.

   >> all that goes in.

   >> yep.

   >> and then what we're going to do is pour that in here with the mushroom.

   >> right now?

   >> we have our beef in here, mushroom.

   >> okay. i'm a little weak.

   >> you've got the hard job today.

   >> okay. so we got that in.

   >> yep. mushrooms, any kind of mushrooms, or what do you prefer?

   >> we use the button mushrooms.

   >> okay.

   >> and here we have our potato and sweet potato and layers of that.

   >> nice.

   >> you layer potato, white potato and sweet potato .

   >> the sweet potato wouldn't be traditional, but i like the color.

   >> very nice.

   >> then you have a little butter.

   >> we have some butter there. and this recipe is a heritage family recipe, i grew up in an 1850s farmhouse, a bed and breakfast , and being a farmhouse, you need hearty meals for your family.

   >> and something that warms up. absolutely, perfect sense. it is interesting when you look at the background of a food and usually from the practicality standpoint feeding an entire family on a bucket.

   >> come on in. how long do you put this in the oven?

   >> for two hours, you take it out and brown the top of it.

   >> beautiful.

   >> great family recipe.

   >> mushrooms in there?

   >> no, they're button mushrooms. it's a traditional irish mushroom. i don't know, i guessed the name of a mushroom. this is beautiful. and again, it's easy to serve, do it family style and you can warm it up a little bit later. gentlemen, would you like a little bit?

   >> yes, ma'am.

   >> you have soda bread made with your beautiful hands.

   >> have, indeed. what we're doing with our cookers school, running heritage cookery programs. people can learn about the irish history of food and it's all part of the gathering of ireland .

   >> i love cookery, i love that.

   >> love that.

   >> yeah, please.

   >> okay.

   >> delicious.

   >> isn't it? oh, gosh, well, catherine.

   >> that's incredible.

   >> a big plate here. thank you, again. this is fantastic. fantastic. you got a little bread, guys? happy st. patrick 's day. beautiful, thank you.

   >> thank you so much. happy st. patrick 's day to everybody.

   >> and this is "today" on nbc. i'm eating last. of.

   >>> coming up tomorrow, how to have a fit pregnancy.

   >>> but coming up next, we hakathie lee and hoda.

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