Season of Soups: Recipe: Lamb Stew
Here is a Leftover Queen classic! Remember all those greens from the Farmer’s Market several week ago?
Well even with all my recipes that week, I still couldn’t use all the greens, so I washed some and stored them away in the freezer. I also had leftover tomatoes in juice from the Imam Bayildi and then there was the issue of random pieces of veggies in my vegetable bin. I also had purchased a small piece of lamb shoulder at the store, perfect for soup. I went into the pantry and found a can of cannellini beans and a package of rice pilaf. Put this all together and what do you have – an AWESOME stew. I am telling you guys, the flavors in here really really rock. It’s got a bit of the Middle East happening in here since I spiced it up with Sumac and Za’atar, a dash of coriander and a bay leaf and the world is a warm bowl of stew. We ate some for dinner, had it for lunch the next day and put the rest in the freezer for next week, so we can have leftovers of leftovers! 🙂
Here’s what I did.
I took:
1 carrot
½ an onion
3 cloves of garlic
½ a cubanelle pepper
3 tiny tiny sweet Italian peppers
and I chopped them into tiny dices. I popped them in a stock pot with 2 TBS heated olive oil. I added my package of rice and my piece of lamb and let everything brown up together.
Then I added:
2 bay leaves
1 TBS of each – sumac, za’atar, coriander seeds
salt & pepper
about 2 cups of plum tomatoes in their juice
1 can cannellini beans
½ fresh roma tomato
4 cups of water
I let it come to a boil. Then I simmered it on low for about 1 hour. Roberto and I took a walk. When we got back I added about 2 ½ cups of chopped assorted greens – chard, beet greens and spinach. I let simmer another 15 minutes while I put a loaf of olive bread in the oven to warm up.
We poured a few glasses of wine and dinner was served. It was fantastic. Nothing wasted. Super Healthy. Inexpensive. Delicious. SCORE!
Heather - January 31, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Ooh! First!
That looks and sounds wonderful, Jenn! I have LOTS of lamb in my freezer – I’m thinking braised shanks this weekend. 🙂
The Leftover Queen - January 31, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I thought you were doing leftovers, Heather! 😉
Deborah - January 31, 2008 at 1:46 pm
A true leftover meal!! I need to learn a lesson from you…
Sowjanya - January 31, 2008 at 2:24 pm
My husband loves lamb and I am always looking for diff. varieties to cook it. I love this recipe. Covers meat, veggies and my favorite ingredient of all : rice :):)
Judy - January 31, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Oh yum. Another inspiring meal!
Peter - January 31, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Jenn, you too are on a Arab kick…looks very warming and Za’tar is another new spice I finally bought.
Sylvia - January 31, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Looks perfect for a winter day Unfortunately I don’t like zatar, but this is a detail. 😉
Lilian - January 31, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Jenn, what kind of za’atar did you use? (Do you make your own mixture?) I recently came across four different varieties–Lebanese, Jordanian, Aleppo/Syrian, and Israeli–at Kalustyan’s in New York City. Evidently, za’atar mixtures are as varied as curry/garam masala mixtures. That is, in some, sumac is the dominant spice, whereas it isn’t included at all in others. Since you list sumac separately in your recipe, I assume your za’atar didn’t have much of it.
Jen in MI - January 31, 2008 at 4:40 pm
This looks lovely, Jenn! I’m not a big lamb person, though – do you think it would work well with beef?
The Leftover Queen - January 31, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Hi Deborah! Yeah, it is kinda my forte…as they say.
Hi Sowjanya, Yeah I love this recipe – all the fod groups in each bite. It is nice and hearty. Good stuff. I love lamb too.
Thanks Judy!
Hey Peter, I love Arabic food – it is in close running with Greek 🙂
Actually, I find there are quite a lot of similarities, just different spices and such. Za’atar is great – it is wonderful mixed with olive oil as a dip for bread. YUM!
Hi Sylvia, well you my friend can skip the za’atar if you like! But just you 😉
Lilian, I use Lebanese. It is a mostly thyme based za’atar, with sesame coming in second. Sumac is the last on the list – and I love that stuff, so I usually go a little crazy with it! LOL!
Thanks Jen! I think it would go great with any meat you have on hand – it is very versatile that way – hence the clean out your fridge deal.
Kevin - January 31, 2008 at 8:54 pm
That lamb stew looks tasty. I like the sound of using the Sumac and Za’atar in it.
courtney - January 31, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Now thats one tasty use of leftovers! Very exotic.
Cakelaw - February 1, 2008 at 12:52 am
Yummo – this lamb stew looks amazing Jenn.
Emiline - February 1, 2008 at 2:16 am
It does look delicious! I think you did a fabulous job with the leftovers.
I’ve never had sumac. I’m wondering what it tastes like.
You’re lucky you get to take walks. It’s freeeezing outside.
núria - February 1, 2008 at 4:19 am
Oh Jenn, I love stews!!! Yours looks really comforting and veggies are the best! I wonder, however, how do you call the big green leaves one? Is that a chard or spinach?
Ivy - February 1, 2008 at 4:56 am
That’s a wonderful stew but I’ll skip the lamb as well and prefer some beef. Jenn it’s wonderful how you’ve made such a wonderful meal just with what you had at home. You have inspired me. I must go and check my pantry and refrigerator to see what I can do with my leftovers.
The Leftover Queen - February 1, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Thanks Kevin! I adore those spices.
Thanks Courtney! You know me gotta change it up!
Thanks Cakelaw!
Emiline, Sumac is a BEAUTIFUL purple color, but it has a citrus flavor. That is the closest thing I can compare it to. It is astringent and really brings life to and brightens up hearty dishes and meats, but also is great on salads, like Fattoush. Well good weather is one of the perks of living in the Sunshine State!
Nuria – the big big green leaves are swiss chard and beet greens. There is a combo of those two AND spinach in this stew. Good calcium!
Hi Ivy! Really, no lamb for you either? Thank you, I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!!
Windy - February 2, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Such an easy and, no doubt, tasty stew. That reminds me to make some more stew before the Winter is gone.
BTW, I’ve received the Dolce Italiano Cookbook and would like to say thank you once again. I will need to do some baking and blog about it in future! 🙂
The Leftover Queen - February 3, 2008 at 11:10 pm
YAY! I am so glad you like it Windy! Check out my World Nutella Day post – is it adpated from another one of Gina’s recipes!