I know you all think I’m weird because I don’t like soup. But spooning hot liquid into my mouth (and spilling it down my face, because that’s how I roll) is not my idea of a good time. I do, however, have a fondness for stew. Especially stew with beer in it, because beer is a great tenderizer of things. And because I like beer.
I’ve had this stewing lamb in my freezer for a while and I decided it was probably time I do something about it.
So I took it out, put it on a plate, and patted it dry with a paper towel.
Then, in a bowl, I took a small scoop of flour, added salt and pepper, and gave it a stir.
Into that I hucked the lamb cubes, and gave them a stir as well.
I heated up my trusty cast iron skillet with a few tablespoons olive oil inside. Then, shaking the excess flour off the lamb, I plopped it in the skillet to brown.
While that was going on I cut up some vegetables: carrots, an onion, and a package of mushrooms.
I didn’t have any potatoes, that classic stew thickener, so I decided to use rice. This wild rice blend from Trader Joe’s is excellent.
I took the browned lamb cubes out and put them on a plate to rest a few minutes.
Then I added a bit more oil to the pan and chucked in the vegetables, giving the onions a wee bit of a head start in the cooking.
Once they’ve softened you can add the rest.
Now you can chuck the meat back in. Then I plopped in some parsley, Newfoundland savoury, rosemary, and thyme. If I’d had sage I would have used that, just to make up the lyrics to that “Scarborough Fair” song.
I also added a few more tablespoons flour.
At this point I ran out of space in my pan so I transferred the contents of the skillet to a larger saucepan. I used a bit of beef broth to deglaze the pan a bit and poured that into the pot, along with the rest of the beef broth (about 3 cups).
Then came two cans of Guinness stout (minus a sip or two, for quality control of course).
Then the rice.
Then I brought it to a simmer, lowered the heat, and let that gently bubble away, stirring every so often, for about an hour.
Excellent. Even more so the next day.
That is very cheap lamb! Also, sounds deeeeelish!
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Normally it’s quite a bit pricier, though it wasn’t the best cut for sure.
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I SO agree with you about soup – and about stew!!
Enjoying your blog – thank you!
Emma.
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Thanks Emma!
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