I picked up the butt end of a leg of lamb today, and had the butcher remove the bone. (I normally get my severed lamb limbs from Trader Joe’s, and they don’t have bones in them.) I didn’t get a great look at the bone before the butcher wrapped it up, but it appeared to be a knobby bit, and he cut the long bone in half. There appeared to be a decent amount of meat on it.
So what do I do with the bone(s)? I’ve never had lamb soup. It doesn’t look like enough meat for lamb stew. The leg meat is going to be roasted, and the leftovers will go into shepherd’s pie. (I suppose I could save some for a stew. It’s a sizable roast.)
Chuck it in a pot with a few rough veges that have gone squishy and boil it for ages. According to the telly chefs, once you sieve out the bones, carrot leaves and onion skins, you have ‘stock’.
Add to rice and some more veg for risotto. Add to better chopped veges for soup. Heat and have with bread for broth. Use instead of water for any savoury dish for extra flavour.
Lamb stock is fabulous. I have a recipe at home for lentil soup that calls for lamb stock, onions, red lentils, ground cardamom, and a squeeze of lemon. It’s definitely one of those recipes in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I can’t rememebr the proportions offhand, but I’m sure you can improvise something.