A good soup or stew is the perfect all day meal during the cold season (by which I mean, any month after August), and I make them constantly. Lamb stew, however, is considered something of a treat in my family. My grandmother cooked lamb (or rather, mutton) and my mom does too. I got the basis of this recipe from them, and then added my own tweaks to call the recipe my own.
I have a hit or miss relationship with red meat, to be honest, and so we don’t eat a ton of it in the house. That’s why this lamb stew is special to me; I have to make the most out of it, because it’s not coming back around again! And this stew is something else, let me tell you. I’ve eaten it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and never been left feeling unsatisfied.
You’ll need (serves 4-6):
1-2 lamb shanks
4 carrots, chopped roughly
4 celery stalks, chopped roughly
1 onion, chopped
2 parsnips, chopped
2-3 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed or chopped
1 cup red wine (think Bordeaux, tempranillo, or malbec)
4 cups water
1 Tbsp cooking oil
1 large bayleaf
3 tsp parsley, chopped
3 tsp rosemary, crushed
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 Tbsp tapioca flour (optional)
Get out a good pot with a lid, and add in your lamb shanks. Brown them with the cooking oil at a medium heat, and then remove the meat to rest on a plate, while you add in all your vegetables except the potatoes, salt, pepper, garlic, spices and herbs.
Cook down your vegetables until a light brown crust forms on the bottom of the pot (the scrap-able bits!) and then deglaze the entire pot with the red wine. Don’t stand over it, unless you want a face full of alcohol-scented steam! Take a good spoon, and scrape up all the crust on the bottom of the pot, and then add in the lamb shanks, and the four cups of water. Lamb is such a flavorful meat that you don’t need to buy broth, this makes it for you!
Peel and chop the potatoes and add them into the stew. I think potatoes make the stew hearty enough not to need a thickener, but if your stew is looking a little thin, here’s what to do: Ladle out one cup of the broth into a soup bowl and add one tablespoon of tapioca flour. Whisk them together to avoid lumps of flour in the stew, and then add the slurry back into the pot.
Bring the pot to a bubbling boil, and then reduce the heat to a simmer (usually I put it on medium-low or low). Cover and let it cook for at least an hour, if not more. The longer it cooks, the more rich it will taste! Stir occasionally, and let it reduce down by about a quarter.
Before you want to serve up, take some tongs and pinch out the lamb shanks. Set them on a plate and cut off all the meat. Don’t worry about being too savage with your knife cuts! This is a stew, and you want to have nice chunks of meat to go with those big vegetable pieces. Add the meat back in to warm it up, and then ladle out into a gigantic bowl to facilitate gulping it down with your biggest spoon.
Tip: If you’re making this ahead of time, I like to add the potatoes into the stew thirty minutes to an hour before serving, because I don’t want them to completely disintegrate. If you don’t have the time, add the potatoes when you add in the lamb shanks, and let them all cook together!
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But What Can You Eat? 