With about one pound of pasture-raised lamb shoulder in my fridge, I had several recipe options. Tonight, with the cold of winter chilling my bones, I choose to prepare a hearty stew with the lamb, with no particular recipe in mind. I had a bunch of farm-fresh root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, turnips, pearl onions and potatoes) at hand, so I decided to incorporate them into the stew.
I started by cutting the lamb in chunks. Then, I seared each piece until it was well browned. Next, I sauteed some finely chopped onions and carrots (about 2 small onions and 2 carrots) in the same pot where the lamb was seared, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon so that the juices from the lamb would not burn, but rather add flavor to the dish.
When the onions were translucent, I added about five tablespoons of tomato paste and a dusting of flour to the pot, and continued to stir the mixture with the wooden spoon. Once the tomato paste and flour started to toast in the pan, I added some lamb stock that I had left over from the day before (any other meat stock would work just fine), letting the liquid fill about three inches over the cubes. Without any fresh herbs in the fridge, I added some dried parsley and crushed spicy pepper to the stew, along with the raw paste of three cloves of garlic.
The stew cooked at a low flame for about one and a half hours, until the meat was extra tender. About half way through, I added salt. Meanwhile, I cut the vegetables into similar shapes and cooked them separately in salted boiling water until the tip of a knife could go through them. However, I cooked the pearl onions in a separate pan with a touch of water, butter, salt and sugar, allowing them to caramelize slightly.
When the stew was ready, I added the vegetables to the pot and cooked the entire mixture for another five or so minutes – just so that the flavors would mix together and the vegetables would soak up some of the sauce. I served the stew with on a bed of jasmine rice.
The end result was a mildly spicy sauce with tender chunks of flavorful lamb. The vegetables retained their original flavors, but softened from cooking with the sauce.
Sorry, no pictures this time. The stew was scrumptious, but not so photogenic.
Tags: Lamb Stew, Root Vegetables
