Double Jack Irish Stew with Boxty Cakes

Although it's only 2 days away from spring the dismal weather, dampness and cold outside make it feel we are still far from this upcoming season known for renewal. So given that it was St. Patrick's Day and comfort food was still called for this Double Jack Irish Stew with Boxty Cakes  that we watched Guy Fieri make last weekend on his show Guy's Big Bite seemed like a perfect weekend recipe.

It starts with a marinade comprised of Guinness, Jack Daniels and Apple Jack, hence Double Jack stew. Yeah, about two hours into making the recipe I made that connection. Evidently I was a little slow this weekend. I also realized about 2 hours in that this was not a quick recipe either. We essentially started making it after lunch around 3:30 and we didn't end up eating until 9 p.m. so plan accordingly but trust me it's worth it in the end.

Marinade Ingredients

We got the marinade made, cubed our Flat Iron steak

and got the marinating process going.

After marinating in the fridge for over an hour. G drained the meat and patted it dry for searing.

Stew ingredients

While G worked on that I pulled together the ingredients for the stew.

It immediately looked and smelled fantastic in the pot.

After this the stew cooked stovetop for 2 hours while G & I got nostalgic and watched the original Arthur movie starring Dudley Moore. The 17th was exactly 1 month that my father passed and this was his favorite movie that my sister and I must of watched over 100 times with him on his old school beta machine in the 80's. We came to the realization this weekend that we are truly missing and still hurting from our loss and comfort and ways to feel close to him are still needed.

Finally, after lots of laughs and getting to share this movie that G had never seen before it was time to start the boxty cakes. Neither of us had ever heard of a boxty cakes, which is a tradition Irish potato pancake evidently made with mashed potatoes and cauliflower and shredded potatoes soaked in milk and chicken broth. The potato mash gets combined with a flour mixture.

At first they are pretty firm.

Then you add the shredded potato with milk & broth and they are more like a batter.

You spread them in a pan with oil...

cooking them until brown and the edges and then give them a flip.

The final additions go into the stew; apple cider vinegar, heavy cream, buttermilk and butter to give it a bit of richness and wonderful flavor.

Guy's directions call to lay the potato cake on the plate

and then place stew and try to wrap the boxty over it.

I wasn't fully successful in my attempts to wrap the stew but I tried.

 The stew was excellent. Full of flavor and veggies. We were slightly disappointed that it was 9:00 by the time we were ready to serve it and our appetites by that time regardless of how hungry just wouldn't allow us to eat as much as we might of liked to.

Luckily there is a ton left for additional servings the next few days. We will definitely make this stew again it's dinner party worthy even given the unique flavor of the marinade, cider vinegar and buttermilk bring to it.

The boxty cake is pretty tasty too. The combo of flavor really make it a special dish.

Recipes from Guy Fieri on Food Network linked:

Double Jack Stew link

Boxty Cakes link