The weather suddenly turned today and our lovely walk in the sun ended with five soaked slightly muddy children.
With the coats dripping in the hall and clothes replaced, comfort food beckoned. We ate Lamb Stew poured over buttery mash ... it is the perfect meal for cold winter days.
LAMB STEW - Serves 8
Ingredients
2 Medium onions, 1Kg Diced Lamb fillet, 2 Cloves of garlic, 250ml Good red wine, 500ml Stock (made with Vegtable Boulillon Powder), 2 x 400g Tin chopped tomatoes, 1 Teaspoon full of sugar, 2 x Sprigs of fresh rosemary, 300g Chopped Carrots, Salt and Pepper
- Turn the oven to 170
- Place a heavy bottomed pan on a medium heat
- Add the sliced onions with a little olive oil and cook until soft
- Add in the beef and brown
- Once the beef has browned add the grated garlic and cook for a minute then add the stock, red wine, chopped tomatoes, sugar and rosemary.
- Bring to the boil then place a lid on the stew and place in the oven for two hours stirring every 20 minutes.
- After two hours remove the stew from the oven and taste the meat to check it is tender. If it is then you can move to the next step. If not keep cooking for a little longer till tender
- Place the stew on the hob on a medium heat season then bring to the boil. Once boiling add the carrots and simmer for 20-30 minutes until they are cooked.
- Once the carrots are cooked remove the stew from the oven and serve
Cooking notes
I like the carrots diced into quite small squares, they should be no large than 1cm squared.
I like my stew quite watery ... if you don’t and you want it thicker then add some cornflower. To add corn flower place two tablespoons of corn flower in a mug, add 50ml of cooking juice to the mug and stir, it should form a watery paste, if it is to thick then add in more cooking stock. Mix the watery paste to the stew and stir thoroughly. Cook for another ten minutes stirring every couple of minutes and the stew will thicken.
Adapting
If you would rather not make mash then pour 200g of Quinoa into the stew and mix. The quinoa will expand slowly absorbing the liquid and will take about 25 mins to cook, stir every five minutes when cooking. When cooked it will have swollen in size and gone slightly transparent
If the quinoa makes the stew to thick or it starts to taste to strong, it will be because the heat was on to high and to much water evaporated. Add a little water to dilute the taste and make the whole thing a little wetter.
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