Lamb Stew

This delicious lamb stew is great in winter. I make mine with barley and some toasted rustic bread. Its fantastic!

Ingredients
1 lbs lamb, cut into chunks or cooked meat from lamb stock.
Coriander seeds
Fennel Seeds
Roasted Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 of 1 Star anise

Cloves
1/4 stick of cinnamon, or a few slivers of a cinnamon stick
Onions
Garlic
Celery or Fennel
Carrots
1 or 2 bay leaves
Lamb Stock

Take the lamb bones from the lamb stock. If you just made the stock, the bones will be hot, so use heat treated gloves. With a pairing knife, remove the meat from the bone. Since you had just made lamb stock, the meat should come off very easily. Separate the meat and put it aside.

Heat a heavy iron skillet until hot. Reduce heat and add coriander seeds and fennel seeds. Roast the seeds for a few minutes until their aroma is released. Stir the seeds constantly so they do not burn.
Remove from heat and place in a small bowl. Add the roasted Sichuan peppercorns to the mix.

Add oil to a large stock pot. Add the seeds mixture you just roasted and stir fry for 2 minutes.

















If you have raw lamb chunks, salt and pepper then, then add them to the stock pot and stir fry for a few minutes until they are no longer pink.
















At this point you can either make the rest of the dish in a stock pot or in a slow-cooker. Either way,
add the onions, garlic, celery, fennel, carrots and bay leaves. If you are using a stock pot, stir fry the vegetables for a few minutes before transferring them to the crockpot.

Add lamb stock, enough to cover all of the meat and vegetables. If you are using cooked lamb from the lamb stock, add it at this time.










Cook in the stock pot for 1 hour on low heat or 3 hours in the crockpot on low heat.


Season with salt and pepper and serve with rustic bread or barley!

Lamb Stock

Oh yes! I found some lovely lamb bones on sale at Ver Brugge in Oakland a while back and had them in my freezer. I thought it was high time I did something with them, so I made a big pot of lamb stock. Those of you who are familiar with my blog, know I am a big fan of homemade stock. It is really cheap to make and it tastes far better than anything you can buy at a grocery store, and far less expensive! I got these for a steal-$5 for a big o' bag of lamb bones! I also had some extra pieces of lamb bones from some lamb ribs I made, and some shoulder blades that I had braised and cut the meat off when the meat was very soft. The good thing about using primarily bone is that the meat will usually stick to the bone until you cut it off-so you don't have little particles of lamb floating around in your stock. Which means you don't have to strain your stock so much.


Ingredients
Onions, red or white-quartered (unpeeled)
Garlic, a few cloves to half a head (depending on how much you like garlic)
Ginger, unpeeled, sliced think
Roasted Sichuan Peppercorns
Dried Mikan Peel
Star Anise
lamb bones, preferably with a little meat on them. I used about a large ziplock bag filled with bones.
Dried Onion Peel


For any stock, it is perfectly fine to just cut an onion up and not peel it-the heat of the pan will take the layers off for you! Same goes for garlic-just pop it in whole.



Also, I like to use dried onion peel in stocks. When I am cutting an onion, I will peel off the outermost layer of skin (its paper thin) and just store it in your onion drawer or in a zip lock bag. After a while you will get a drawer full of dried onion peel. You have to be careful about this--make sure it is just the outermost layer on the onion, and make sure it is completely dry when you store it. Otherwise, you will get mold on the skin and will have to throw it out. That would be a waste!








Add a little oil to the stock pot and swish it around to coat the pot evenly. Heat for a few moments, till the oil gets hot, but not smoking.Add the roasted peppercorns and the dried mikan peel. Stir fry for a few minutes until their aroma is release.

Add the onions (and not the dried onion peels) and stir fry for several minutes until the onion begins to separate into individual peels. Add the garlic (also unpeeled) and stir fry for a few minutes. Add the ginger and continue to stir fry. The mixture should become quite fragrant.

Continue to stir fry until the onion have separated into individual peels and have browned a little. Add the star anise.

Add the lamb bones and continue to stir fry for a few minutes.

Add the onion peels, give it a good stir and shut off the heat. Transfer the stock pot to the sink and add water to the pot until all the bones are submerged in water.

Return the stock pot to the range, put the heat to high. Allow the stock to come to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.

Cook for 2 hours on low heat. The stock will take on a dark brown color.

Remove from heat and let the stock rest till it comes to room temperature.

Strain the stock and freeze in ice cube trays (see my post on chicken stock).

Cumin Lamburgers (Lamb Burgers)

Ah! Lamb. The tastiest meat in the world. Food of the Gods (well at least the Gods on Mt. Olympus!). I love lamb. It has a delicate texture and can be used in a full palate of flavors(savory, spicy, sweet), and a delicious texture.

This is a North Indian influenced dish. I took a pound of ground lamb, and added cumin powder and diced onion to it. You can really add as much cumin powder as you like. I usually let my nose be the judge. I also added some Harrisa, minced ginger, minced garlic, bread crumbs and 1 egg. Mix everything together with a fork or with your hands.Then roll them out into smooth balls and press them down into patties. Grill according to your liking.

I usually serve this with store bought potato chips or homemade yam fries. I like to serve it will a little mint-cilantro yogurt sauce or Moroccan ketchup! I found a store in Oakland (the Pasta Shop in Rockridge) carries Moroccan ketchup and it is just delicious! http://rockridgemarkethall.com/pasta-shop

I love a good burger! A classic burger is always good, but I also like to mix it up a bit.



Ingredients
1 lbs ground lamb
Homemade breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
1/4 quarter onion, diced
Harrisa
Cumin Powder
Hamburger buns or Artisan bread
Condiments (Mint Chutney, lettuce, tomato, A-1, Spicy Ketchup, Mushrooms, Guacamole)


This is a dead simple recipe.

Mix together your ingredients and add them to the ground lamb. Mariande for at least 30 minute or up to 2 hours (the longer the better, as the flavor will seep in more).

After marinating, form into patties. If you want to get creative, make a thumbprint inside the patty and add some blue cheese or Gorgonzola cheese inside and fold the meat over the cheese. This way, the cheese melts inside the patty and diffuses throughout the whole patty.

Heat up your grill with charcoal and get it nice and hot.

Oil your grill and grill the patties and buns to medium or well done. Toast your buns last. Form into burgers and eat. Delicious!












This recipe also goes well with Cilantro Mint Chutney: