I have a shoulder of lamb and am thinking of making a stew with it?!
I have a shoulder of lamb and am thinking of making a stew with it?
Any ideas? I like things simple but want to make the best of it its a treat for me as my hubbies away.
Answers: Good for you. Do so.
On a more practical level, you could make a navarin. It's a French lamb stew. You need to cut up the lamb into hefty chunks (remember that they'll shrink when cooked) and reserve the bone - you won't eat it obviously, but it's flavour. Dip the lamb pieces into seasoned flour, brown them in hot oil. Then, remove them and cook a chopped onion, a roughly chopped carrot, a crushed clove of garlic and a roughly chopped stick of celery in the hot oil until soft, but don't let them burn. Add three generous tablespoonfuls of tomato puree.
Add the meat, including the bone, back to the pan and add a glass of white wine. Scrape up all the good brown goo at the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon and let the wine reduce and thicken, which it should do anyway with all the cooked flour swirling around. Add water or light stock to just barely cover the lamb, bring to a boil then turn the heat right down to a simmer and simmer for at least 2 hours. Preferably three. You could throw in a bay leaf or some chopped thyme at this point.
When the lamb is tender, it's a good time to either do the rest or take it off the heat, cool it down and go back to it the next day. In any case, the final stage is as follows:
Peel floury potatoes and cut them into as many chunks as you want to eat. Take as many frozen peas and frozen/fresh green beans as you want to eat. If the green beans are fresh you'll probably have to clean, top and tail them.
Put the stew onto a low heat and put on a saucepan of salted water. When the water boils, throw in the spuds and let them boil for five minutes. Drain them and add them to the stew. Cook for another 30 minutes. 10-15 minutes before the end of cooking, add the peas and/or green beans and cook until the potatoes are soft but not falling apart and the green veg are delicious and tender and impregnated with the rich, meaty, brown liquor.
Oh yeah - remove the lamb bone before serving.
This is a most delicious stew which will only get better for being left overnight to calm down before you add the second lot of vegetables the following evening. No! Make a milkshake! Liquidise for 2minutes then add 3 1/4 pints of milk! Personally I would roast it, because its a bit fatty.
Put some garlic and rosemary on it before you put it in the oven. NOOOO Shoulder of lamb is too sweet and tender to stew.. Roast it!! As Joanie said Garlic and rosemary is the way to go, I have to only do half the joint with rosemary and garlic... because hubby has very bland tastes. make slits in the top and put slithers of garlic and sprigs of rosemary leaves..Ahhh, to die for. Wow, you have a lambs shoulder? I'd see a doctor if i was you! I agree with joannie,don,t waste it on a stew,use stewing steak. you should boil it the day before you want to eat it for 2 and a half hours to three hours with what ever veg you are having with it then the next day remove the fat that will have come to the surface when it has cooled and add a soup powder to thicken the broth and serve with potatoes If hes away,would you like me to come round and cook it for you? ROASTING IS BETTER BUT IF YOU WANT A STEW ,CUT THE MEAT IN 2 INCH PIECES, SAUTE IN A LITTLE OLIVE OIL SO YOU BROWN ALL OVER,THEN ADD3 GARLIC ,CLOVES CHOPPED, 1 ONION CHOPPED, SAUTE THEN ADD 1 CUP OF RED WINE,SMALL TOMATO SAUCE,SALT, PEPPER,SAUTE 1 STICK OF CINNAMON AND SMALL POTATOS AND A CHOPPED CARROT,COVER AND SIMMER FOR 50 MINUTES.WHEN DONE ADD CHOPPED PARSLEY,IT SHOULD BE MOIST AND WONDERFUL, I MAKE THIS WITH WHITE RICE,OR SOMETIMES WITH EGG NOODLES NAMASTE 1. Before you make the stew, the first step is to wash and cut all the little silver veins off the meat, then cube it into bite size pieces put into a hot pan with 2-3 tablespoons of good olive oil and brown, while browning on all sides, add liberal amount of salt and pepper.
2. take browned lamb out of pot and put aside, and add in 1 cup of red wine(water or stock) to deglaze pan, then add a little more oil if needed and saute :2 large onions cubed, 2 cloves of garlic chopped, 2 large
stalks of celery chopped, two carrots peeled and chopped along with 1 tsp. rosemary, 1 tsp. parsley 1 tsp. paprika and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add meat back in along with cubed potatoes and chopped tomatoes.
4. cover and simmer for 1 hour (or until meat is soft and tender) Taste liquid and make sure that it has enough of salt and pepper, if you like things a bit spicy add in a bit of crushed chili peppers. Stir every 15 minutes or so as not to burn and to make sure that it has enough liquid in it. Hi jintyyt,
Don't stew it, far to nice for that lets compromise .......
Take out the "H" bone roll and tie then Pot Roast it with chunky fresh vegetables ie: Potatoes, Carrots, Celery, Onion & Leeks few sprigs of Rosemary and a Thyme a few cloves of garlic (leave whole) season to taste the beauty of this is all the ingreidents are the same as a stew but... you can carve your meat for a fuller flavour....... Bon appetite
Regards.....
CoffeeBean I wish I'd seen this question earlier. I would have sugesting you stuff the shoulder, after boning, with a blend of eggs, feta cheese and fresh spinach. Fill the cavity, bake and slice. Attractive, taste wonderful. But alas, I have been too late I fear. have a look on www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lam...