Lamb Stew

This is a heart-warming dish that makes use of that age-old pairing of lamb with beans. I usually use those beans sold as gigantes in Greek markets, and cook them separately in water until they’re 9/10ths done, then add them to the stew. I have also used potatoes instead of beans and and have absolutely no complaints.

You can usually buy lamb stew meat, but unless you really trust your butcher, this can be a risky proposition. If you want to make your own, buy lamb shoulder and cut into 1 ½ inch chunks.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds lamb stew meat, trimmed of excess fat, cartilage, sinew, etc, and cut into 1 ½ inch chunks
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 carrots, brunoised
• 2 stalks celery, brunoised
• 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 small bunch fresh thyme
• 1 small bunch fresh sage (about 6 leaves)
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 2 slices thick-cut bacon, minced or ground
• 4 TBS flour or Wondra
• ½ cup white wine
• 6 cups chicken stock
• High-heat oil, like safflower
• Salt and pepper
• 1 TBSP each dried thyme and red pepper flakes
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 TBS butter

If using potatoes:

• 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 ½-inch chunks (or red bliss, or baby red bliss, or new potatoes, halved or quartered)

If using beans:

• 2 cups of gigante beans, cooked almost to completion

Directions:

Prepare the mirepoix, garlic, and bacon and set aside in a bowl. To mince the bacon, I often put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes so it is partially frozen. Then I slice crosswise into 1/8^th inch slices, then the other way, then run my knife over it a few times for good measure.

Wash the fresh herbs and trim all the leaves, discard the stems, then mince very fine, all together, and add to the same bowl as the aromatics and bacon. Set aside.

Spread the lamb onto a large cutting board. Trim away any excess fat, sinew, etc from every piece and discard. Cut the lamb into 1 ½ inch chunks. Sprinkle salt and pepper liberally on every piece, the flip them all and repeat.

Put a large dutch oven on high heat and film the bottom with oil. Wait till it is screaming hot (you can start this before salting and peppering the lamb) then add the first batch of lamb. You want to fill the bottom of the pan without over-crowding. (Likewise, you don’t want the pan to be too empty, as this will cause the wonderful juices that the lamb spits out to burn.) But of course, over-crowding is more the temptation, and any piece of lamb that is not touching the bottom will not cook properly at this stage. You’re trying to brown it, not steam it. Any piece that is resting on another will simply be steaming from the moisture that the one below it is releasing, making it impossible to rise to the necessary temperature to achieve a really beautiful sear. That temperature is achieved by contact with the bottom of the pot, so let everything rest there without stirring for a minute or two, then check the first piece you put in. If it has a deep chestnut colored sear on it, they are ready to flip. When I have many things in a pan like this, or dumplings, or meatballs, I generally start at around 12 o’clock in the pan and work my way around the edges clockwise, then fill in the middle. When the first one is ready to flip, I start there and work my way around in the same order, so that everything cooks for the same amount of time, and also so you can keep track of what you’ve done and what you still have left to do.

Once you’ve flipped all the lamb pieces and let them sear on the other side without disturbing them for another minute or two, remove to a bowl and reserve. Do the same with the remaining lamb – if you’re using a large dutch oven and have cut the lamb to the specified size chunks, you probably shouldn’t need more than two batches. If you get into way more than that, you risk burning the wonderful fond on the bottom of the pan, and that would be a disaster.

Once you’ve removed all the lamb to the same bowl, add the vegetables to the pot. Stir vigorously, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon, so that the liquid the vegetables sweat deglazes the pot somewhat. Cook, stirring frequently, over high heat, until the vegetables are completely soft and melting into one another.

Add the white wine and deglaze, then cook, stirring constantly, until it is all but evaporated.

You have to work a bit quickly at this point – if you’re a measurer, it will help to have the flour measured out in advance. If you’re a guestimator, just go go go. But you’re working with a hot pan here, and the vegetables in it have given up almost all of their water, so the possibility of scorching your food, and therefore the only real way to have a little fuckup in this otherwise very forgiving dish, is squarely centered at this stage of the process. You really really don’t want your flour to stick to the bottom and burn before you’ve had a chance to incorporate it into the liquid.

So – add your flour and stir vigorously to combine until it is evenly distributed and all the fat and juices have been absorbed. Cook this way, scraping the bottom of the pan, for about a minute.

Then, still on high heat, add the lamb and all the wonderful juices that have collected at the bottom of the bowl it was sitting in. Add the chicken stock – enough to cover the whole mixture by about an inch or so. Add the dried thyme and red pepper flakes and another pinch of black pepper if you like. Stir so that everything is homogenously combined, and then thoroughly feel the bottom of the pot with your spoon to make sure there are no chunks sticking. If there are, scrape them until they incorporate into the stew.

When the mixture just comes to a boil, turn the heat to low. Stir once more to make sure that everything is incorporated and thoroughly mixed, the cook at a low simmer for about an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes or so and checking to make sure that you haven’t scorched your flour and have a large chunk sticking to the bottom. This is rectifiable if it happens, but if so, it means your heat was too high and/or you weren’t working fast enough and keeping things moving. Or your pot has hot spots, which also isn’t good.

I like to prepare the potatoes and hold them in cold water while this is cooking. If at any point the liquid gets too low and starts to expose the meat, add more – but also turn your heat down. It really shouldn’t reduce this much.

After about an hour, the lamb will be tender but still have slightly too much bite. The liquid will have thickened slightly – but more than that, it does something when it is ready that is different from thickening…I’m not sure how to describe it except that it coheres in a certain way. It is as if up until this moment you are boiling a bunch of separate ingredients – meat, vegetables, herbs – in a pot of chicken stock, and at this very moment, all those ingredients transform and, along with the stock, become a new, distinctly unique cohesive whole. It’s a cool moment and you can almost see it go down, if you happen to be watching. In any case, at this point, if you’re using potatoes, drain them if you’ve been holding them in water, and add to them to the pot. Or, add the beans. Stir well, raise the heat to medium to return the pot to a simmer, and cook for about 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes or so, the potatoes or beans should be fully done – taste one or two bigger chunks to make sure. The lamb will also be perfectly cooked at this point and it is time to finish the dish. To do so, there are three things you must do: mount it with butter, smash a few of the beans/potatoes against the side of the pot, then stir them in, and add the parsley. I do the beans/potatoes first, then the butter (I have also been known to add a large dollop of crème fraîche at this point, which is by no means necessary but sure as hell never hurt anybody), then cook for another 10 minutes, then the parsley, which I stir in just before killing the heat.

Evaluate and adjust seasonings if necessary, then ladle great steaming heaps into bowls and enjoy immediately with huge chunks of the best possible bread you can find.

Consider yourself warmed.