I’ve done European style lamb stews before (made a killer Spanish one a few times), but this is more of a Middle Eastern version. Recipe is “No-Sear Lamb (or Beef) and Chickpea Stew”. It’s from Christopher Kimball’s new show Milk Street. Detailed recipe on their web site.
It’s simmering as I write. Smells pretty good, and definitely Middle Eastern.
Anybody else done it or something like it?
Spices are: Cumin, Cardamom, Paprika and Cinnamon (and salt and pepper, of course). You saute some onion, then add some tomato paste and half the spices and saute them a bit. Add water, lamb (which has had half the seasoning spread on it) and a whole head of garlic (with the top lopped off a bit). Later, you add carrots, spinach and then latter still, parsley and cooked chickpeas. Lemon and more cilantro and yogurt if you want.
I’m adding mushrooms because… I add mushroom stop everything. And I use more onions than the recipe calls for because… I always add more onions. The additional onions go in towards the end so they don’t end up disintegrated into the broth.
The recipe called for 6 cups of water (to 1 1/4 lb of lamb), and I almost reduced that to 4 cups. But it simmers with the lid cracked open, and I figure with all the spinach and chickpeas being added, it probably wont’ be too soupy, but we’ll see.
Sounds really good. How did it turn out? I’ve never done anything more elaborate with lamb than grilled marinated lamb chops, roasted rack of, or lamb curry made with Madras curry sauce. Served over white rice with a good chutney and a robust Cabernet, it’s one of my favorite dinners. The fact that the house stinks to high heaven afterwards is a limitation.
But I’m totally with you on adding mushrooms and lots of onion – two of my favorite accent foods.
I currently have a bunch of farm-made lamb sausages in the freezer that are supposed to be exceptionally good. I was going to do my standard oven-baked thing with them, because I generally find that better than plain grilling on the barbecue, but you’ve given me some ideas. Normally I bung the sausages over a bunch of chopped white onion and sometimes peppers in a baking dish after browning them, and then slather them with marinara sauce and pop them in the oven. Now I think it would be nice to throw in some whole marinated cremini mushrooms during the last 15 minutes or so, and for the lamb sausage, substitute for the marinara something with some Middle Eastern or Indian zip, like maybe Madras curry sauce. Hmmm… curried lamb sausage sounds good to me!
I was a bit concerned about the lamb, because I bought pre-cut stew meat and it was unbelievably lean. Not a spec of fat. It did taste kind of bland, but also maybe overcooked. The simmer time was 90 minutes, and that was probably too much. I could see making this with pork for some more flavor.
I’d reduce the water a bit, but not that much. Maybe 5 cups instead of 6.
The idea of putting the whole head of garlic in there added simplicity, but you’re supposed to remove it and then squeeze it back in at the end. That ended up adding some of the “paper skin” to the pot, and I had a few very chewy bits to deal with. I’d squeeze it into a small bowl first, and remove that papery stuff before adding into the stew. I was careful to remove all the loose, outer skin beforehand, but that wasn’t enough.
I was concerned that the spices would be overpowering, as when I had them measure out the aroma is BIG. But no problem there. The result was very tasty!!
I might give this a shot. I have a surfeit of venison in the freezer this year (thank you Bambi) and venison can usually be used anywhere lamb is called for.
It’s pretty much your basic stew outline, and the thing that makes it different is the spices. I cut back on the cinnamon a bit, just because cinnamon to me is something you put in dessert. The great thing about stews is you take your original recipe, and then add whatever you like (as I added mushrooms). I could see this one with potatoes, if you wanted, tomatoes, or even eggplant. Maybe even especially eggplant.
The recipe called for an optional bit of yogurt in the serving, and I did that. It added a nice sour bite to the mixture and made the broth a bit creamier.
I make a somewhat similar lamb stew. The similarities include cumin, cinnamon (the good Ceylon stuff, not cassia for this recipe), plenty of onion & garlic, some tomato, and carrots. Different is the thyme and red wine. A pot of lamb stew makes the whole house smell warm and cozy. Mushrooms and eggplant sound fine with me.
I’d add a half pound of ground lamb or maybe even a shank.
