Recipe: Spring Lamb Stew

A fresh, zingy dish to challenge all those heavy dreary winter stews, try this Spring Lamb Stew for an impromptu dinner party, a hearty supper, or a special Valentine’s dinner. You won’t regret it!

Marinade

Lamb (enough for 4), diced

Juice of 1 lemon

2 cloves garlic, sliced very thinly

2 tsp Paprika

Fresh Herbs (handful of thyme and parsley)

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil – good glug to cover

Throw all of the above into a bowl, and marinade in the fridge for a few hours or overnight if possible. Give all the ingredients a good stir to ensure the lamb has a good coating of all the ingredients.

Vegetables

1 Onion

2 Celery Sticks

2 large carrots

Couple of potatoes (optional)

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

When prepping the veg, aim to cube everything to equal sizes if possible. This is as much about presentation as anything else – it looks lovely! The amounts above are a guideline for 4 people – the idea is not to let one vegetable dominate, but maintain equal amounts of each.

Method

Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan and cook the onions until soft, for 5 mins. Don’t burn them. Throw in the celery and cook for another minute or two, then the carrots, peppers and potatoes. Cook the veg over a low to medium heat for 5 to 10 mins until softened, stirring occasionally to make sure the veg doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Remove all veg from the saucepan, and drain. Leave the veg in colander to stand.

Wipe down the saucepan, then heat up, throw in the lamb and marinade and brown the lamb over a high heat (2-3 min). Once the lamb is browned, remove from the saucepan and allow to stand and drain. Wipe down the saucepan again – all this wiping has a point: it really helps the texture of the dish.

Place saucepan on low heat, throw in a tin of tomatoes. Put the brown lamb into tomatoes, place lid on saucepan and cook over low heat for 40 mins to an hour, making sure it is simmering. About 15/20 mins before the end, throw in the veg and stir. When ready, the lamb should be falling apart, but the veg should be intact.

To Serve

Sprinkle on some lovely fresh flat-leaf parsley and serve with lashings of hot crusty bread.

That’s it. A trifle complicated, but very much worth it at the tasty end.