For those of you that are not from Louisiana, it’s been summer here for the last six months. The average daytime temperature since May has been 92 degrees, and don’t get me wrong, I am one of the few humans that adores summer in New Orleans. The heat doesn’t bother me, everyone is dewy and sun kissed and likely wearing too little clothing and I am here for it. That being said, somewhere around the first week of October I couldn’t take it anymore. I mean SIX MONTHS and it’s STILL hotter than the surface of the sun. What really makes me long for cooler weather though is fall and winter time recipes. Having grown up in Massachusetts we ate a lot of stew, chili and roasts. You know what really puts a damper on setting your oven at 350 for five hours? 92 degree weather. Well, we finally got some relief this week in the form of a mild 75 for the past several days. 75 doesn’t exactly scream stew weather but I threw most of my windows open anyway and went for it.
Lamb Stew:
5 lb Lamb Roast
2 Tbsp Rosemary
1 Tbsp Thyme
1 Tbsp Paprika
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Cumin
3 Carrots cut in 1 inch rounds
1-2 Vidalia Onion finely chopped
8 Cloves Garlic sliced
1/4 inch knob of Ginger sliced
1 28oz can Crushed Tomatoes
1 cup stock
1 juice Satsuma (or 1/2 juiced lemon)
3 bay leaves
Although I left my five pound chunk of lamb on the kitchen counter overnight on Monday to thaw from rock solid, it was still frozen on Tuesday morning. So I took the lamb out of his packaging and bathed him in a luke-warm salt bath while I chopped and prepped the rest of my veggies. After this I cut the lamb into about 10 pieces, and browned the meat on all sides in this hot cast iron pot, setting the browned meat aside for later. I then added about a tablespoon of olive oil, the onion, the garlic, the ginger and the carrot and sautéed that all for about 5 minutes. After this add the rest of the herbs and spices along with the meat and coat the meat in the spices. Add the bay leaves, the can of tomatoes and the cup of stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and salt as needed, cooking for 2.5-5 hours. The recipe that I drew inspiration from suggested juicing a lemon into the stew before serving, I already had a Satsuma so I used that as just hint of citrus. I cooked this on the longer side of things, leaving it very low all day so the meat would get very tender. I served it with some parmesan polenta, fresh bread from Honest Foods Co. at the Crescent City Farmers Market, and a really simple arugula salad.
