I decided to forgo what I already had planned for dinner tonight (I plan my meals a month at a time which I will post about another time!) and go with some comfort food. And you know me: I always share! ** I will update with photos later tonight**This recipe has morphed and changed over the years. I first started playing around with a lamb stew recipe after I got home from an amazing trip to England, Ireland and Scotland with a girlfriend, pre-kids. I could have basically lived on lamb stew while I was there. Oh wait...I did! This is the perfect recipe when it's getting cold out or you just want to feel good. Plus my kids eat it by the pound. It calls for a sour cream-flour thickener which gives it that thick, creamy consistency that you really want in a stew like this. The only thing you want to keep in mind when you using sour cream or creme fraiche as a thickener is to not boil it because it will break the sour cream. It will still taste okay but it will look curdled.
So without further ado here you go
Maria's Winter Lamb Stew
Ingredients
Oil
1 pound lamb stew meat
2 cups beef broth (If you want a stew that is less chunky and more liquid you can up this to 3)
1 cup red wine
2 cloves minced garlic
Fresh thyme and rosemary sprigs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
2 cups peeled, cubed butternut squash
1 cup peeled cubed yam
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup peeled, cubed potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons flour
Brown the lamb stew meat on all sides in the oil. Stir in the beef broth and the wine. Season with garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the vegetables: squash, yam, mushrooms, potatoes and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat and simmer for another 30 minutes or until your vegetables are tender.
Meanwhile in a small bowl combine the flour and sour cream to make a paste. Now here's the key: Add 1/2 a cup of the stew into your bowl of sour cream paste NOT to the stew. It will be less of a shock to the cream. Mix it together. Add another 1/2 cup. Once it is combined well in your bowl, add it to the stew. Make sure it does not boil. Cook until thickened.
Now for me, you can't make a stew like this without mashed potatoes. You can mix mashed potatoes with all kind of things: roasted garlic, goat cheese, you name it. But my favorite is sour cream. Stick with me here. The combination of the tang of the sour cream is a great combo. The sour cream keeps the potatoes very moist which is great for pairing with this soup.
3 lbs russet potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks
1 cup milk (whole is best for creamy mashed potatoes but it's your call)
1/2 stick unsalted butter
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
Boil your potatoes. But not to the point where they disintegrate. You should be able to stick a tip of a knife all the way through. Drain but keep them hot. Make your milk and butter mixture on the stovetop. Season with salt, pepper. Mash your potatoes. Slowly add your milk mixture to the potatoes. Then add the sour cream. Voila!
Serve by putting the mash in the bowl then generously cover with your stew. Snuggle on the couch and watch the returns roll in and wait for the pundits to bring out a 3d model of George Washington talking about the danger of political parties or something ;)
While we wait for our stew to do it's thang we will be doing our electoral college maps found here or if you want one with the numbers you can play with Cspan's.
Now dessert!
We will be making dessert pizzas from Martha Stewart's recipe. The girls are over the moon! Dessert and pizza together??! Minds. Blown.
Ingredients:
4 fajita sized flour tortillas (6 inch)
1/3 cup seedless raspberry all fruit jam
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup raspberries
1 cup blackberries
1 cup strawberries hulled and halved
1 cup blueberries
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place tortillas on a baking sheet and top each with a tablespoon of jam, spreading it almost to the edge. Bake until tortilla is crisp, about 10 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature.
Drinks
I will be sampling a Nasty Woman ;)
2 parts silver tequila (for my bad hombres)
2 parts cherry juice
1 part lime juice
Pour over ice and cover with sparkling wine or sparkling limeade
