lamb casserole

 

on a cold winter’s day, there is nothing that warms you up better than a hearty meal. whenever cooking wintery food now, i remember some wise words i heard while watching masterchef australia last year. chef john torode (resident judge on masterchef in britain) was a guest judge on that particular episode for the “british food” theme and when explaining to the contestants about the heart of british cuisine, he emphasized that it is the hearty meal that brings the sunshine to the dull, grey days england is known for. i kept that in mind when making this delicious casserole that warmed us up nice and easy on saturday night :)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 kg lamb – shoulder, shank or leg are great cuts to use.
• 2 tbsp plain flour – seasoned with salt, pepper and chopped rosemary
• olive oil
• butter
• 5 cloves of garlic
• baby pickling onions
• baby potatoes
• 3 carrots chopped
• 1 turnip
• 4 stalks of celery
• 1 leek
• 1 punnet mushrooms
• 2 and half cups of good, rich beef stock – if you don’t want to use beef, then chicken will work just as well
• 1 cup red wine – use a wine that is full bodied and pairs well with red meat. also remember to use a wine you would love to drink, because if it is not good enough to drink it’s definitely not good enough to cook with! i used a cabernet sauvignon/merlot blend
• fresh rosemary
• fresh thyme
• fresh parsely

 

METHOD:

in a heavy based casserole dish, start off by slightly browning the pickling onions in some olive oil and butter then remove from the pot. this will start the dish off with a layer of flavour. the most important thing with a casserole is creating a level of flavour with the addition of every ingredient.

put your lamb in a bowl and season well with the flour, salt and pepper. chop up your rosemary and add to the flour dredged meat and then brown in batches in the oil and butter used to brown the onion. remember not to overcrowd the pot as this will decrease the temperature in the pot and in turn, take much longer to brown the meat.

once all the meat has been browned, you may need to add more olive oil and butter into the pot and then turn the heat down and throw in your chopped vegetables and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until the vegetables are softened and brown. once this is done, add the lamb back into the pot along with the browned onions and deglaze with the red wine. after the wine has reduced by half, add in the beef stock together with a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary. bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes on the stove.

throw in more fresh thyme and rosemary and put in the oven for 1 and half hours on 180 degrees or until the meat falls off the bone.

serve with crusty bread and you’re ready to be warmed up on a cold, winter’s day :)