You may have picked up on the fact that I have my hand in quite a few different adventures in my life right now. Last night I had a catering gig in Boston, which led me to have a bit of leftover lamb. Today seemed like the perfect day to make a lamb stew.
Start off with some carrots, celery and onion, mirepoix as it’s known in the culinary world. Get those veggies starting to sweat out all of their goodness and then add your herbs, I used thyme and rosemary along with 2 garlic cloves. You will really start to smell it now, but be careful not to add any color to the garlic, just sweating out flavor.
Cut up one whole Springdell rutabaga into chunks and add it to the pot. I usually cut both ends off of the rutabaga so it has stability to stand. Then I use a knife and slice down the outside of the bulb. Use the curve of the vegetable to help you, just like taking the skin off of an orange or grapefruit you plan on segmenting.
Then I added a container of homemade veal stock. I always make my own stock, it’s a really long process, a labor of love, but the flavor is like no other. I make huge batches and freeze them for times just like this.
I put the cover on and let this go for about 30 minutes in a Dutch oven, covered.
I opened up the cover and added a half a cup of rice. Replace the cover and go about 20 minutes longer. The rice adds some substance to the stew and naturally thickens it too.
Here are is the lamb I had leftover as well as some blanched green beans. Because these items were pre-cooked I added them just 5 minutes before serving the stew. If you were using cubed lamb that was uncooked it would be browned first and set to cook at the same stage as the addition of the stock. The green beans are always added at the end.
There you have it, delicious comfort food. Serve it with Springdell spinach, shaved Parmesan cheese and crusty bread for dipping.
Enjoy!