Weekend Foodie: Slow-cooked fragrant lamb stew for a flavourful dinner

Sat, 05 Apr, 2025 - 07:09

We will soon be celebrating Easter with traditional new season spring lamb, but this special treat hasn’t hit the shelves yet. So this weekend, I’m using readily available lamb which is slightly more aged and ideal for a flavourful stew.

New season spring lamb is delicate and sweet, perfect for roasting pink and serving with piquant mint sauce for the Easter feast. As this meat ages it takes on a deeper, more herbaceous flavour, developed from longer grazing on sweet grass and wild herbs found in Irish fields and hillsides. Slow cooking is the perfect way to bring out these tastes, enhanced with the fragrant spices I’m using in this recipe. This dish has a slightly Moroccan slant, so you could serve it with couscous if you want to keep that theme. But it also works well with fluffy mashed potatoes to soak up all the delicious juices.

To follow, you can call this upside-down dessert of pears baked in a fluffy sponge a cake or a pudding. My definition is - if you eat it warm from the oven with custard then it’s definitely a pudding. But if you can bear to wait till it cools and serve it in elegant slices, it's a cake! Pears are plentiful right now and at a good price in most supermarkets. A fruity finish to this meal, whichever way you eat it!

FRAGRANT LAMB STEW

Ingredients (Serves 4)

2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
500g diced lamb
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp dried oregano
400g chopped tomatoes
350mls chicken stock
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
100g frozen peas
2 tbsp fresh finely chopped parsley

Method

Heat the oil in a large heavy heavy-bottomed frying pan and brown the meat all over.
When it’s browned, add the carrot, onion and garlic to the pan and cook for a minute or two more, stirring.
Stir in the spices to coat and cook for a further minute.
Transfer to a heavy-bottomed saucepan with a lid. Pour over chopped tomatoes and stock.
Add the oregano.
Bring to bubbling and season. Cover and simmer gently for about 90 minutes or until the lamb is tender. Keep an eye on liquid levels.
Add peas and chickpeas and simmer a few more minutes, to cook the peas and heat the chickpeas through.
Check seasoning and stir in chopped parsley to finish.
Serve in warmed bowls with couscous or mashed potatoes.

PEAR UPSIDE DOWN PUD

Ingredients (Serves 6)

4 ripe pears
Melted butter for brushing
3 tbsp maple syrup

For the sponge:

175g butter, softened
175g sugar
3 fresh free-range eggs
175g plain flour sifted with 1 tsp baking powder
1-2 tbsp milk

Is it a cake or is it a pud? Di says if you eat it warm from the oven with custard it is a pudding.

Method

Peel and halve the pears and remove seeds.
Line the base of a deep-sided sandwich tin with a circle of baking parchment.
Brush with melted butter. Drizzle base with maple syrup.
Arrange pears in the base of the tin, cut sides down.
For the sponge, beat butter and sugar till light, pale and fluffy.
Beat in eggs, one by one, with alternate spoons of flour.
When all the egg is incorporated, fold in the remaining flour.
Add enough milk to make a soft dropping consistency.
Spoon mix over the pears and smooth surface. Tap tin to remove air bubbles.
Bake in a pre-heated oven, Gas 5 375F 190C for 25 minutes or until golden and risen.
Cool slightly in tin, then loosen sponge around the edges.
Place a serving plate over the tin and using a tea towel, lift and invert so the plate is underneath.
Shake the tin lightly to turn out so the pears are on top. Don’t worry if any stick to the base of the tin, just pick them out and sit them back on top
Brush pears with extra maple syrup. Eat warm with custard or cool and serve in slices.

THE WEEKEND GARGLE

For this lamb dish, I’m choosing a classic French red wine which will support and enhance the exotic spiciness of the stew. Chateau Haut Medou Bordeaux Superieur has been made at the Family Sorges winery since 1957. This vintage red from 2015 shines with the quality of its heritage, packing a full fruit aroma and flavour of black and red berry fruits into every sip. Full of rich flavours, underlined with firm structured tannins, this wine is luscious but with an elegant smooth and velvety finish. Remember to uncork half an hour before , to allow it to breathe and release all the flavours and aromas in the glass. You’d expect a French Bordeaux of this calibre to be expensive, and it usually is. But it’s on offer this week at Supervalu stores, down from €17.99 to €8.99 till 9/04/25.

RECEIPT

MAINS