Lamb Stew

There are few things more appealing when the weather is chilly than a hearty stew. It’s a bit fun making them, too. One feels a bit like an alchemist, taking a tough, sinewy piece of meat and slow-braising it until it’s fork tender and falling off the bone. All those tough pieces of cartilage and marrow melt into a velvety broth, coating the meat with luxurious flavor.

My big issue with stews though, is that all that slow cooking turns everything else in the pot in an unappealing mush. All the flavor’s been leached out of the vegetables and they’ve no texture left besides…well, mush.

The solution? Cook them separately. This way, the cooking vegetables in the pot braising with the lamb do their job by imparting lovely flavors to the meat and broth, but one isn’t forced to eat the finished product. Slow roasting the cubed veggies right next to the lamb allows their inherent sweetness to develop, without overcooking them. Throw them all together at the end and it’s a match made in culinary heaven.

There are three additional things worth mentioning:

First: Try and get the freshest, best ingredients possible. There’s simply no way the finished product will taste any better as the sum of inferior parts. Also, challenge yourself and see how locally-raised you can get your lamb. I was able to pop over to a Whole Foods and find lamb raised on a farm not 45 minutes from where I live. It really does make a difference – better flavor and supporting local farmers.

Second: Get a really good sear on the lamb. Even though you may not see the browning after it braises because that brown crust gets diluted by condensation, it is a huge step in developing the complex flavors one craves in meat-based dishes. I said it once, I’ll say it again – take the time to get a good sear. Brown it in batches if you have to.

Third: The tin foil over the pot and under the lid really does make a difference. It adds an additional moisture barrier and ensures that all the steam rising from the meat and vegetables doesn’t escape and drips back down onto the food. Also, because the seal is tighter it creates a bit of a vacuum, also a good thing.

Lamb Stew

½ leg of lamb, shank portion, bone in

1 lb. lamb neck bones (optional)

2 onions

5 carrots, chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

4 cups vegetable stock

1 turnip, diced

1 lb. potatoes, diced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 300⁰F

Season the lamb shank and neck bones with salt and pepper. In a heavy bottomed soup pan or enameled cast iron dutch oven, sear the lamb on all sides until crusty and brown. Remove to a separate plate. Cut one onion into 4 pieces and add to the pot. Add the celery, half the carrots and the vegetable stock. Place the lamb back in the pot on top of the vegetables. Cover with tin foil and the lid and place in the oven. Let cook for 2 ½ hours. Meanwhile, chop the remaining onion and toss it and the remaining chopped carrots and diced turnip and potatoes in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. After the lamb has cooked for 2 ½ hours, place the vegetables in the oven as well – roast for one hour.

Remove both the lamb and the vegetables from the oven. Shred the lamb and keep warm in a foil-covered dish. Discard all bones. Strain the liquid from the cooking vegetables in the pot, mashing the veggies to get all the liquid. Return to the soup pot and bring to a boil. Check for seasoning, toss in a bouillon cube/paste if the flavor is dull. Reduce liquid by one-third. Add the lamb and the roasted vegetables to the liquid. Serve with Irish soda bread.