St Patricks Day

1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 pounds lamb for stew, cut in serving pieces
3 tablespoons fat
1/2 cup sliced onions
Boiling water to cover, about 2 1/2 cups
6 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 carrots, scraped and diced
2 or 3 white turnips, quartered
Parsley Dumplings (optional; recipe follows)

Parsley Dumplings

2 cups biscuit mix
Pinch of nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/2 cup boiling water or 1/2 cup milk

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Blend the flour, salt and pepper and dredge the meet in the flour mixture. brown in the hot fat in a skillet. Transfer to a heavy pot. Cook onion in fat until lightly colored, then add to the meat. Add boiling water to cover meat, cover pot tightly, simmer at low heat 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Blanch potatoes by covering them with boiling water; drain. Add potatoes, carrots and turnips to stew during the last 20 minutes. Cook until vegetables are tender. To thicken sauce, blend part of the flour mixture used for dredging the meat with sauce from the pot to make a thin paste, add this to the sauce in the pot, simmer until thickened. If dumplings are to be added, prepare as in the following recipe.

Combine the biscuit mix with the seasonings, blending well. Add water or milk, stir to moisten. Drop by the spoonfuls on top of the boiling stew, cover and cook 12 minutes.