[Sca-cooks] Favorite lamb stew recipes for a crockpot?

[Maggie MacDonald]

At 07:26 AM 11/22/2004,Christiane said something like:
>I'm looking for nonperiod or period, Western or Middle Eastern, it doesn't 
>matter. The only requirement is that they have to be crockpot adaptible. 
>I'm in one of my lamb-craving moods again and the butcher there, tempting 
>me <g>.
>
>Gianotta

Cariadoc put together a great redaction for a dish that has lamb, and 
sweet/sour and just flat out wonderfulness:

Safarjaliyya
, a Dish Made With Quinces

Andalusian p. A-48

This is a good food for the feverish, it excites the appetite, strengthens 
the stomach and prevents stomach vapors from rising to the head. Take the 
flesh of a young fat lamb or calf; cut in small pieces and put in the pot 
with salt, pepper, coriander seed, saffron, oil and a little water; put on 
a low fire until the meat is done; then take as much as you need of cleaned 
peeled quince, cut in fourths, and sharp vinegar, juice of unripe grapes 
(verjuice) or of pressed quince, cook for a while and use. If you wish, 
cover with eggs and it comes out like muthallath.

1 lb lamb
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 t coriander
~4 threads saffron
2 t oil
1 T water
1 quince = 3/4 lb
1 T wine vinegar
1/4 c verjuice
(2 or 3 eggs)

Cut up meat into bite-sized pieces, put in a pot with spices, oil, and 
water, and cook over low heat about 10 minutes, stirring periodically. 
Meanwhile, peel and core quince and cut into eighths. Add quince, vinegar, 
and verjuice to pot and cook covered about 30-40 minutes, until quince is 
tender when poked with a fork. If adding eggs, stir them in and cook, 
stirring continuously for about 3 minutes.

We have also done it using quince juice instead of verjuice: to make 1/2 c 
quince juice from 1 quince, put quince through food processor with 1/6 c 
water, squeeze through cloth.

(I'll admit, I'm lazy, I skip the eggs part at the end).

As to plain ol' regular traditional lamb stew, i seldome use a recipe, but 
heres one from southernfood.about.com hat was constructed just for use in a 
crockpot. But remember!! recipes are SUGGESTIONS, not commandments written 
in stone.


INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 pounds boneless lamb, cut in 1 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 turnips, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
4 carrots, sliced 1/2-inch thick
2 medium onions, sliced
4 potatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

PREPARATION:
Brown the meat in oil. Put all ingredients except flour and parsley in the 
Crock Pot with the meat. Add 2 cups water and cook on low, covered for 8 to 
10 hours. Uncover and turn on high. Blend flour with 1/4 cup water until it 
forms a paste; slowly add to stew, stirring constantly until slightly 
thickened.
Stir in parsley and serve.

If i were to do this, i'd probably dredge the meat first, brown it quickly 
in a skillet with whatever fat rings your chimes that day, dump in the 
crockpot with the rest and cook. I'd probably add a slurp or so of some red 
wine, and some garlic. Lamb and Garlic .. is there any more blissful 
combination?? (ymmv)

Another killer combination for slow cooking is the lamb, garlic, celery, 
carrots,onions and then barley. But use less barley if you're slow cooking 
because it goes so much further when it's allowed to continue to soak up 
fluids all day.

Enjoy your stew!!
Maggie