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Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Easy Lamb Stew

November 8, 2016 by Mary 11 Comments

Lamb stew over egg noodles with blanched sugar snap peas topped with pepitos in a white bowl.

I love stew. And I love lamb. (And an easy lamb stew is the best!) I used to ask for lamb for my birthday dinner ever since I was like, 5 years old. When we lived in New Jersey, our babysitter, Jen, used to make the best lamb stew using lamb neck pieces. They get so very tender, but they are also hard to find. I never see them in the stores I shop in now. I should put in a special request to the butcher.

So I wanted to find a quick and easy way to make a delicious lamb stew, so this is what I did, remembering a trick my mother used to use on her stews. That trick is to lightly sprinkle flour on top of the meat, while you’re browning it. It works nicely to brown the flour, adding in the thickening agent without having to make a roux so you can move on quicker! Thanks Mom!

Another thing I did was add in dried apricots. They cook nicely with the meat and don’t really “read/taste” as fruit, when it’s all done – it just adds a touch a sweetness, melding deliciousness in a great, comforting way.

Comforting, that’s what a great stew is all about, right? Especially on some egg noodles.

And we all need a little comfort these days. I can’t wait for today to be over. This has been a very tough election season and I am so sick of hearing about it. Are you too?

Make this with LOVE and sink into some tasty comfort!

EASY LAMB STEW – serves 6

2.25 lbs. lamb stew meat
Kosher salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. flour
2 tsp. cumin
½ tsp. allspice
1 cup dry red wine
3 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
1 Tbs. butter
1 medium onion, cut in half and sliced
3 – 4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1” pieces
3 stalks of celery, cut in 1” pieces (no leaves)
½ of a fennel bulb, cut in ½” wedges
5 whole garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 bay leaf
3 stems of fresh rosemary
2 medium fresh tomatoes, each cut into 6 wedges and each wedge cut in half
20 dried apricots, each cut into 3 pieces
Cilantro, chopped for garnish
Browned lamb stew meat with cumin and allspice sprinkled on top in a glass pie plate.Lamb stew meat sauteeing with flour sprinkled on top in a Le Creuset pot.Dry the meat pieces with paper toweling while you warm the oil on medium-high heat, preferable in a Le Creuset cast iron Dutch oven pot. Salt and pepper the top of the meat cubes and when oil is hot, lay seasoned side down in your pan. Brown the lamb cubes for about 3 minutes while you salt and pepper the other side of the meat in the pan and lightly sprinkle 1/3 of the 2 Tbs. flour over the top of the raw meat. Turn and brown the other side for 3 minutes, being careful and adjusting your heat to not let the oil and flour mixture burn. This will take about 3 batches to do. Remove the browned meat to a glass pie plate for meat juices to collect.

Vegetables sauteeing in a steamy skillet.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in another non-stick skillet and lightly brown the onion, carrots, celery, fennel and garlic on medium to medium-high heat, tossing often until they are lightly colored, about 10 minutes.

When all of the meat has been browned, sprinkle with the cumin and allspice and toss to coat in the pie plate.

Deglaze the Le Creuset pot with the wine, stirring up all the bits on the bottom of the pan, reducing the wine by about a third, simmering 5 minutes.

Lamb stew ready to roast in a Le Creuset pot.Add in the chicken or vegetable stock, the seasoned browned meat, and all the vegetables, scraping all the butter and juices left in the skillet from the vegetables. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, apricots and rosemary stems. Toss all to combine.

Cover and roast at 350 degrees for about 1.5 – 2 hours, until meat is super tender when tested with a fork. If it looks a little dry or you want more juices, add more broth.

Serve over some egg noodles or cous cous would also be nice. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Enjoy!!

 

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: easy dinners, easy lamb stew, lamb stew, stew

Provençal Lamb Daube

October 6, 2014 by Mary 29 Comments

Lamb daube in a bowl, garnished with chopped parsley.So what is a daube? It is a stew of meat, the dictionary says, typically beef, but this recipe of lamb, adapted from a Daniel Boulud recipe is…. quite simply…to die for! I made this recipe once before, for a dinner party that really was the dinner party from hell…but that’s another story. But because of that, it has taken me about five years to make this again. Serving it with LOVE, to people you love, is a whole other story. This Provençal Lamb Daube is not to be missed. With the chilly weather coming on board, it is just the sort of dish you want to sink right into, right now.

Daniel says to serve it with roasted garlic grits, which I did the first time around, but my husband is not a grits fan. Polenta is the traditional choice, which I think would be grand. My husband asked for egg noodles, which seemed to work out just fine. (I passed on them altogether as we have a big family wedding to go to in Boston this coming weekend and I want to look best in my new black dress! Thank goodness for weddings to get us all in shape – right?!)

Lamb daube recipe ingredients on a white platter.

Back to the recipe. This is delightful to make – the vegetables are all beautiful and colorful and the addition of the orange and fennel really set this dish apart. Lamb daube ingredients on a cutting board.

You don’t brown the meat or caramelize the onions, you just prepare the vegetables (takes about an hour) and layer everything in a big pot (I used my Le Creuset) and throw it in the oven at two different temperatures and voilá, you have one amazing stew to serve that will keep the compliments coming! (I’m thinking this might be the way to go with Boeuf Bourguignonne in the future.) Lamb daube in Le Creuset ready to cook.I made this on Saturday while making our dinner for that night and served it tonight – Monday. It was perfect and definitely better to serve it a day or two later. So this makes it ideal for a weeknight dinner party! Whip up a salad and you’re all set. Daniel says that French women would take their pot to the local baker and have it sealed with some bread dough on top and bake the whole thing. Can you imagine how good that was?!

Serve this with a soul-soothing wine. Daniel Johnnes, wine director of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants, suggests a rich, full-bodied wine from the southern French appellation of Bandol. “This Mediterranean region produces lush, earthy wines that pair beautifully with roasts, stews, and grilled meats, especially lamb,” he says. His first choice is the Domaine du Gros’Noré 2005 ($30). “This full-bodied red is made predominantly with the Mourvèdre grape and has a warm, seductive nose of black fruits, spice, and saddle leather,” he explains. “On the palate it is smooth and powerful and has a long creamy finish.” Other Bandols he recommends are Château Pradeaux, Domaine Tempier, and Domaine de la Tour du Bon. We were able to find a 2007 Château Pradeaux Bandol and let me tell you, it was totally delicious and perfect!!

I hope you get a chance to make this with the cold weather coming. I know you will LOVE it!

PROVENÇAL LAMB DAUBE – serves 6 – adapted from Daniel Boulud

2.5 lb. lamb shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 Tbs. salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 lb. slab bacon, cut into ½-inch dice, nitrate-free
1 small head of fennel, cut into 8 wedges
3 roma tomatoes, quartered and seeded
½ of an orange, peel on, cut into thin slices
3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
7 small Yukon potatoes, peeled and cut in half
3 small carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, halved and cut into thick slices
2 celery stalks, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
½ cup taggiasche or other small black olives, pitted
1½ cups Burgandy or similar red wine
1 cup beef stock, or low-sodium stock
1 sachet (1 tsp. each fennel seeds, black peppercorns, and coriander seeds wrapped in cheesecloth and tied with butcher’s twine)
1 bouquet garni (3 sprigs basil, 1 bay leaf, 2 sprigs thyme, and 2 sprigs rosemary, tied with butcher’s twine)
Italian parsley, chopped for garnish

Preheat oven to 380°F and place a rack in the center. Season lamb with salt and cayenne pepper. Place one-half  of the lamb and the bacon on the bottom of a 5½-quart Dutch oven and top with one-half of the vegetables. Repeat, finishing with vegetables.

Fennel, coriander and peppercorns on cheesecloth ready to be bundled and tied.

Fennel, coriander and peppercorns on cheesecloth ready to be bundled and tied.

Add wine and stock followed by sachet and bouquet garni, being sure to submerge them.

Everything ready for the lamb daube before submerging the herbs and sachet bundle.

Everything ready, before submerging the herbs and sachet bundle.

Cover and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 280°F and bake for another 2½ hours. Remove from the oven to rest at least 30 minutes before serving, or cool, refrigerate and serve 2 – 3 days later. Warm gently. Serves 6.

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: Bandol wine, Daniel Boulud, lamb stew, Provençal Lamb Daube, wonderful winter meals

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Mary Frances

Mary Frances

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