Move over love, there’s a new shminky chef in town
A very gorgeous friend of mine sent me a recipe last week and it’s what I’ll be cooking tonight. Not done a cooking thing on the blog for a while but decided I had to share this. I’m hoping this friend will either a) put her recipes on her own blog and become the hotter, sexier new Nigella, or b) sling them my way, I can take all the credit and we can run off to the Bahamas with all the monies.
If you fancy something different this week, or this coming weekend give this a go. It could make a great Mother’s Day supper?
But it’s gonna be my dinner this evening. This is her recipe and the following words are simply copied and pasted from her email and I think the main reason it sounds so good is how she’s written it, but here you go.
Greek Lamb Stew
Right, I’ve realised that I cook this recipe quite instinctively rather than follow a set recipe, so I’ll give you the guidelines I work on and I’m sure you can tweak it where necessary. The original recipe calls for a whole shoulder of lamb, bone removed and diced, so perhaps a half shoulder would be ok for four with plenty left over? But any good cut of stewing lamb will work.
Ingredients:
- Diced lamb
- Olive oil
- Plain flour
- 1 can chickpeas
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic crushed or finely sliced (so only kiss those who are also eating it
) - 2 tins of copped tomatoes (buy 3, I always buy one spare in case I need it)
- Couple of tablespoons of tomato purée
- About 300ml of stock (lamb or chicken work just as well)
- Plenty of oregano (depends how much you like)
- A bay leaf
Season the lamb with salt and pepper and dredge in some plain flour.
In a large casserole dish, on the hob, a splash of olive oil and brown the lamb until it looks almost golden, remove and leave the juices in the pan
Soften the onion in the juices then add the garlic.
Put the lamb back into the dish
Add the tomato purée, 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, chickpeas and enough stock to cover everything (this is where you will have to play it by ear a bit)
Plenty of oregano to taste and the bay leaf
Bring it all up to the boil, then put a lid on it and either simmer it on the hob or put it in the oven at 180 degrees for three hours… Minimum. Check the lamb after three hours and cook for longer if its not falling apart easily. Once the lamb is beautifully soft, if the sauce is too runny, simmer for a while to reduce it. Remove the bay leaf (don’t forget that bit) then… Top tip… Put a little cinnamon in right at the end to add richness, be careful, though, not too much.
Serve with crumbled feta with fresh mint chopped into it and flatbreads.
If you decide to give it a go this week do let me know. Hope it turns out well for you and, as she said in her email to me ‘if it’s crap you can chuck it and get pizza! ‘
Thanks for reading. And happy cooking.
I would love to cook lamb here, but it is just far too expensive.