Changing Menus with the Seasons...

I realized this week that I hardly ever mention cooking meat on this blog - of course we are not big meat eaters but we do enjoy some lamb once in a while and lamb stew is one of my favourite meals to make. And there are also far more vegetables out in the world that we never use often enough. 

As the days grow darker and somewhat colder our meals take on a different dimension almost as if they also transform into heartier more protein based foods with sustenance. Nothing says winter to me the way a meal of lamb stew, with root vegetables and some warm bread right out of the oven.

This week we had one day where I was feeling wintery enough to make a large pot of this magical elixir and of course there was not a drop left. 

I start a lamb stew in the same way as any other root vegetable soup pot. To a pot of water I add seaweed, sautéd onion, leek and garlic, but with meat I use herbs from the garden such as lovage and French sorrel. 

Then I put in a lot of vegetables such as carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin and this week I had celeriac and sweet corn - which are such great vegetables for stews as well as barley. Each of these would be more winter additions to our diets. 

Root vegetables with celeriac

Once these are bubbling away I get started on the meat part of the meal. We eat meat so infrequently, that sometimes I wonder if I have forgotten what to do with it - but cooking is like riding a bike, there are some things you never forget.

With lamb I have it cut up into large chunks which go into a pan with water, onion and garlic as well as some olive oil. I like to get the meat nicely browned before I add it to the vegetable pot. So, this is usually covered for a little while.

Lamb for stew 

Once the meat is ready the stew is pretty well cooked, the lamb goes in last and I don't leave the heat on for very much longer. I find the flavours blend better when this is allowed to sit and cool for about half and hour - not stirring very much.

This week when I cooked lamb I added extra lovage herb to the meat - this has a taste similar to celery and is very complimentary to lamb. It is also an ancient herb with many nutritional benefits. This particular stew had both lovage and celeriac in it making the taste exquisite - especially if you enjoy old fashioned home cooking!

Next time you use lamb, try it with lovage or sorrel and taste the difference.

Have a healthy day,

April 

Lamb, sweet corn root vegetable stew