A meat lover's Easter dinner

WARNING!!
The following recipe is very carnivorous, so my vegetarian friends may want to steer away from this post.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, I am finally posting my Easter dinner recipe.
Mom and Dad were invited over for an intimate dinner. Being that I am not actually a practicing Christian, Easter holds no special significance for me, but I am a big supporter of eating lamb and this was the perfect excuse.
Now, Mom has never really eaten lamb. Her dad was a butcher and hated lamb for its "slimy" texture, so he never brought it home. How I came to like lamb so much I don't really know.
I have seen many recipes for Irish Lamb Stews and have really been wanting to try one. Fortunately I had one in a "beer cookbook" that was sitting in my kitchen. Without any further ado here is Irish Lamb Stew:

Irish Lamb Stew

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided

3 pounds lamb stew meat, depending on taste ( I suggest Utah's Own Morgan Valley Lamb)

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 can (1 pint) stout beer, like Guinness or Murphy's

1 teaspoon ground thyme

1 teaspoon sugar

1 pound new potatoes, quartered

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 to 1 cup water or broth

1 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. In large bowl, mix flour with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss lamb pieces in flour until well coated, shake of excess flour and discard leftover flour. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. In batches, brown the lamb on all sides. Transfer browned lamb to a bowl.

2. Add onions and 1/4 cup stout to pot and cook over medium heat about 10 minutes, scraping up the tasty brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the lamb to the pot and stir in remaining stout, thyme, sugar, remaining salt and pepper. If needed add more liquid, enough to just cover the lamb. Cover and simmer about 1 1/2 hours until lamb is tender.

3. add potatoes, carrots and 1/2 cup water or broth. Cook, covered, 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in peas and parsley and simmer until peas are warmed through. Soup's on!

This stew is extremely meaty and rich. We actually used less meat than the recipe called for(about 2 1/2 pounds) and it was still almost too much. I was amazed at how simple, but delicious it was. I was not truly aware of how fantastic thyme is. I do not utilize thyme very often and never on its own. it has a wonderful light, springy flavor. I have heard it described as lemony.
We served this with some fantastic whole wheat biscuits that Karin made. The leftovers heated very well for lunch the next couple of days.

There you have it, a wonderful Easter supper good enough for any day.