So why am I posting a cozy winter recipe that requires hours of oven time even though for many of us the heat of summer is far from over? Because I've just shared a really easy way to freeze tomatoes—which work beautifully in this recipe—on my kitchen garden blog, along with a lighthearted explanation of why my once much used canning equipment spends most summers gathering dust. If you're lucky enough to have a tomato glut on your hands right now, you might want to save some for later. Of course if it's already cool enough in your neck of the woods for this kind of hearty fare, feel free to toss in fresh tomatoes instead. Either way, enjoy!
Frozen whole tomatoes are tossed right in - no need to defrost.
"You're right," Joe said as I dished up this hearty one pot meal last winter, "a lot of our food isn't pretty."
I tend toward homey comfort foods that, while simple to prepare and deeply satisfying, often leave something to be desired in the looks department. This meal was decidedly not beautiful (or photogenic), but it tasted wonderful.
The nicest thing about dutch oven cooking (I love my
As always, I urge you to seek out
local and organicingredients; they really do make a difference. Natural, grass-fed lamb raised by small producers is becoming more and more readily available around the U.S., so there's no need to buy frozen lamb that has traveled halfway across the world. Not that I have anything against sheep farmers in New Zealand and Australia.
Browned lamb shoulder roasts - funky looking but tasty.
Each lamb shoulder has two small roasts which are oddly shaped, but—like most of the 'cheaper cuts' of meat—are full of flavor. If you can't find shoulder roasts for sale (sometimes the shoulder is left whole), you can substitute lamb shanks or even lamb sirloin roasts. Just make sure you use something that has bones.
The other ingredients and amounts are flexible when cooking this way, so feel free to adjust them to suit your taste. A few handfuls of sweet red pepper (
from the freezer perhaps?) tossed in are very nice. I've also made this with just the onions and garlic (no wine, herbs, or tomatoes) and it's delicious.
Cold weather comfort food that will make your kitchen smell divine.
Susan's Slow Cooked Dutch Oven Lamb
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
2 pounds yellow or white onions (about 8 small), peeled and thickly sliced
5 pounds lamb shoulder roasts, sirloin roasts (bone-in), or lamb shanks
1 cup red wine (I use Cabernet)
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat leaf Italian parsley
1 pound frozen whole paste tomatoes (or 2 cups good canned plum tomatoes)
Salt & pepper
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat olive oil in a
large dutch oven over medium heat. Sprinkle lamb roasts with salt and pepper and then brown on all sides (in batches if necessary), using tongs to turn the pieces. Watch out—the oil will splatter. Remove lamb and set on a large plate.Add onions to dutch oven and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and starting to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Make a well in the center of the onions and add the garlic. Cook, stirring so that all the garlic touches the bottom of the pot, 2 to 3 minutes. Mix garlic with onions.
Stir in 1/2 cup of the wine, bring to a boil, and stir up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot.
Stir in the rosemary and parsley.
With slow roasting, the dutch oven does most of the work. Scatter the frozen tomatoes over the meat and pour on the remaining 1/2 cup of red wine. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Put on the lid and set the pot in the oven. Cook for 2½ to 3 hours (or longer), stirring everything around after the first and second hours. Be careful not to burn yourself. If the meat hasn't already fallen off the bone, it should easily come away with a fork. Serve up the meat with the onion tomato mixture on the side, or mix it all together into a glorious, sludgy mess. Garnish with more chopped parsley if you want to pretty it up a bit. Add a Feel like baking your own bread? Love lamb? Here are more of my Less Fuss, More Flavor lamb recipes: Still hungry? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index. © FarmgirlFare.com, the slow cooked foodie farm blog where I was really tempted to wait to post this recipe until I had a chance to take a more appetizing, less embarrassing photo of the finished dish (maybe even one without a big splotch of sauce on the plate), but considering how long it takes me to get around to doing anything (these photos are from February) and how not into food photography I am (partly because my kitchen is always a cluttered mess), I figured it would probably be at least another year or two before that happened, so it was ugly or nothing. But it really does taste great!
Move the onions to the side and set the lamb roasts on the bottom of the pot. Cover the meat with some of the onions.
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Onion & Herb Crusted Lamb Spareribs and Grilled Lamb Leg Steaks
