Wood-fired!

Persian lamb stew

I’ve made this stunning, simple stew a number of times but finally got round to taking a pic before serving it so thought it was time to post.

The original recipe is by Neil Perry from his tome The Food I Love. My variations are minor. This is Neil’s recipe:

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• 700g lamb shoulder
• 80ml extra virgin olive oil + extra
• 2 brown onions, cut into 1cm dice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 cardamom pods, split, seeds removed and crushed
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 375ml chicken stock (I used 500ml)
• 110g (½ cup) pitted prunes (I used more)
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• juice of 2 limes
• ¼ teaspoon saffron threads, dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water
• 1 large handful mint, roughly chopped
• roasted almonds or pistachios to garnish

For the pumpkin
• 400g butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into 3.5cm dice
• sea salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

To make the lamb stew, cut the lamb into 4 cm dice. Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the lamb in batches, stir over medium to high heat until browned, then remove from the pan. Add extra oil to the pan if need be, then add the onion and stir until lightly browned. Add the spices and sea salt and stir for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the stock. Return lamb to the pan and simmer over low heat, covered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add the prunes, sugar, lime juice, and saffron water. Cover and simmer for a further 30 minutes, or until the lamb is very tender.

Meanwhile, for the pumpkin, preheat the oven to 200°C. Combine the pumpkin pieces with some sea salt and the extra virgin olive oil. Put in a roasting tin and bake for about 20 minutes, or until just tender and lightly browned all over.

Add the pumpkin and the mint to the stew.

Serve the stew in a large bowl, with a bowl of rice in the middle of the table. Garnish the dish with the roasted almonds or pistachios if you like. Serves 4.

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The choice of lamb seems to have the greatest influence on the dish. The first time I made this I used the shoulder as Neil suggests. In subsequent preparations I was lazy and used either leg or pre-cubed lamb from the butcher. Although it took some time to bone and prepare the meat from the shoulder the result was far superior. As well as the more intense flavour, the larger cubes that you can cut yourself seem to work better and I think the shoulder gave a better overall texture to the dish.

I used a few more prunes than the recipe indicates but this should be offset by leaving out the sugar if they are very sweet.

Adjust the stock to the amount of liquid you like in the final stew. I think it needed 500ml.

Be careful not to overcook the pumpkin - it needs to retain its form in the stew (however undercooked pumpkin is a deeper sin).

The photo at the top of this post does not have the roasted nut garnish. (I find that if I don’t prepare the garnish before I cook the dish I’m inclined to not bother at the end.)

Neil suggests rice as the starch but of course it works very well with couscous. Hope you enjoy it.

5 comments August 31st, 2008

Did I mention I love potato cakes?

Well I do love potato cakes! Mixed with salmon or fennel or brussel sprouts or just a sharp cheese - love ‘em! So I couldn’t resist a recipe in a recent edition of my local rag The Canberra Times and it was soooo good I wanted to share with those of you who don’t regularly read my local paper.

These contain feta and parsley and are served with a garlic yoghurt. Yum! The recipe is courtesy of Diana Lampe who writes a column called vegetarian kitchen (but I read it anyway). Her short description reads:

Patato-keftethes, or potato and feta patties, are comforting home-cooked food from Greece. They are easy to make and will disappear quickly. Serve them with yoghurt sauce or tzatziki, hummus, salad and flat bread for a delicious meal.

Patato-keftethes (potato and feta patties)

Makes 12 patties

3 medium (500g) potatoes
extra-virgin olive oil
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
125g feta cheese, crumbled
3 tbsp chopped dill or flat-leaf parsley
freshly ground black pepper
plain flour
lemon to serve

Yoghurt sauce
250g Greek yoghurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
sea salt and hot paprika or cayenne

Boil the unpeeled potatoes in salted water with a bay leaf until tender. Peel them while hot. Hold each potato with a tea towel as you peel it so you don’t burn your hands. Mash or pass through a ricer. Mix in a tablespoon of olive oil. When cool, add the egg, feta, herbs and pepper and mix well. Prepare the yoghurt sauce by whisking the yoghurt with garlic and seasonings. To make the patties, scoop up the potato mixture with an oiled 1/4 cup measure. Form into round flat cakes or fingers and roll in seasoned flour. Pan-fry in olive oil over medium heat until golden brown. Serve hot with a squeeze of lemon and the yoghurt sauce or tzatziki.

I followed this pretty closely. I used desiree potatoes, lots of fresh-picked parsley and a Bulgarian feta. I used two bay leaves when boiling the potatoes but then I’m always pushing the envelope :-). The oiled measuring cup was bypassed as this doesn’t seem to be in the spirit of potato cakes to me. (If you’re a serious internet foodie you will know that there’s a whole internet sub-culture based around cupcakes - perhaps it’s time for the potato cake revolution!)

We had these with sautéed courgettes, grilled lamb cutlets crusted with whole cumin, the yoghurt and a slice of lemon.

These will be made many more times (and maybe I’ll get some slightly sexier photos in the future).

3 comments June 11th, 2008

A decent Shepherd’s Pie

In a recent (in Australia) episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares show, Gordon shows the ‘Irish chef’ how to make a shepherd’s pie. (Apparently the chef got his recipe off someone who knew someone who’d once been to Ireland!)

So we thought it was about time we had a shepherd’s pie especially as the cold months have just arrived with a vengence. A quick check on line gave me lots of variations on Gordon’s recipe but not the original one.

I grabbed two recipes that looked promising and made some guesses about what was original and what was added. I adjusted quantities a little and added my own corruption in the form of a few mushrooms to add to the earthiness of the meat filling. I used minced beef for this version (which I guess makes it a cottage pie) but will try it again with lamb.

It turned out great - good enough to want it again very soon. So I thought I’d record my variation before I forget it. Unfortunately I was running a little late when the dish came to the table (timing, timing, timing!) so I didn’t do the right thing and grab my camera for a quick shot but they looked good in individual bowls with rustic peaks of golden potato with some dark crunchiness on the peaks. (The pic on the left is of a second version with lamb mince and cooked in a pie crust - not as attractive as the originals because I used left-over potatoes which didn’t achieve the same peaks.)

Shepherd’s Pie

The meat filling
600g minced beef
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped
1 large carrot finely chopped
3 large cloves garlic finely chopped
6-8 mushrooms (I used Swiss Browns)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
leaves from 3-4 sprigs of thyme
1½ teaspoons chopped rosemary
1 cup shiraz
1 cup chicken stock (try beef or veal if you have it)
salt and black pepper
The mashed potatoes
4-5 medium-sized desiree potatoes (probably about 500g)
salt
15g butter
¾ cup milk
2-3 tablespoons parmesan
salt and white pepper
Assembling the pie
2 large ramekins or other steep-sided bowls
grated parmesan
butter

1. Slice mushrooms and fry in a tablespoon butter. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large frypan and brown the meat. (If making a larger quantity or using a smaller pan do this in batches so the meat doesn’t stew.)
3. Drain fried meat in a metal sieve or colander with fine holes. (More essential for lamb than beef I imagine.)
4. Add a knob of butter to the pan and fry the oinions for 1 minute.
5. Add the carrots and fry for a further minute.
6. Add the garlic, thyme and rosemary and continue frying (without burning the garlic) until the onions are translucent.
7. Add the meat back into the pan, sprinkle with flour and fry for a further minute or two.
8. Mix through the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce.
9. Add the mushrooms.
10. Add the red wine and cook for a couple of minutes.
11. Add the stock, cover and cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes until the liquid is reduced but the filling is still moist.
12. Season with salt and black pepper and set aside while preparing the potatoes.
13. Peel potatoes and cut into 4 or 6 depending on the size. Boil in salted water until cooked (easily broken by pressing with the back of a knife).
14. Preheat oven to 200°C.
15. Drain potatoes and put them through a ricer (or mash until smooth).
16. Put butter and milk in a pan and bring to the boil.
17. Pour over potatoes and mix through.
18. Season with salt and white pepper.
19. Divide meat filling between the ramekins leaving room for potatoes.
20. Spoon on the potatoes and push about to seal the dish. Create ragged peaks and grate a little parmesan over. Dot with small pieces of butter.
21. Put on a tray to catch any filling that bubbles over and put in oven for around 20mins or until the potato peaks are well browned.
22. Server hot.

Leftovers were fantastic the next day!

Add comment March 30th, 2008