Lamb Stew

Below we present a recipe for lamb stew. The recipe is from the book "Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat," written by Deborah Krasner. The book covers all kinds of meat-centric recipes (beef, rabbit, poultry, and much more). Here is the recipe for lamb stew:

"Lamb Stew with Apricots, Ginger, and Cinnamon

This stew doesn't call for browning the meat before braising it, but does require time to spice-marinate the meat, and to rehydrate the dried apricots. (On a workday, you could do this early in the morning and then cook the stew when you get home, because the spices will not break the meat down.) It's a great dish to serve with rice.

Serves 4
1.5 pounds pastured lamb stew meat, cut into cubes
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
Salt
2 cups boiling water
1.5 cups dried apricots
1 (10inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, coarsely chopped
1.5 teaspoons unbleached all-purpose flour
Freshly ground black pepper
For the garnish:
Greek yogurt
Chopped fresh cilantro
Pan-toasted almonds, roughly chopped

Rinse the lamb, drain it, and pat it dry. In the bottom of a large bowl, mix the cinnamon, coriander, cumin, and chili powder together, along with a scant 1/2 teaspoon salt. Toss the lamb cubes in the spice blend to coat, and let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes (or overnight in the refrigerator). At the same time, pour the boiling water over the apricots in a small bowl to rehydrate them. Let sit.

When ready to cook, drain the apricots, reserving the flavorful water. Purée the apricots in a blender, adding the water gradually through the feed tube on top to make a chunky, watery slurry.

Pound the ginger and garlic into a rough paste using a mortar and pestle, or purée them in a mini processor or blender. Dissolve the saffron in a spoonful of hot water and let sit.

Using a heavy pot with a lid, such as a Dutch oven or flameproof clay casserole, heat the oil over medium-low heat, and when it has thinned and become fragrant, cook down the onions, stirring as needed, until they are soft and limp, about 5 minutes. NOTE: The level of heat is important here because you can easily cook off too much of the great spice flavors - if you smell them powerfully in the air, it's likely that there is less of their flavor in the dish!

Add the dissolved saffron, stirring well, and then immediately add the spice-covered meat. Stir to blend, taking care not to burn the spices, and add the ginger-and-garlic paste. Sprinkle with the flour and cover with the apricot slurry.

Stir, bring to a boil, and immediately turn the heat as low as possible to maintain a simmer. Cover the pot and cook gently for about 1.5 hours, or until both the meat and the fruit are very tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the stew on top of rice, garnishing each portion with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkling of cilantro and almonds."

- "Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat," by Deborah Krasner