Tender French Lamb Stew
This is my take on a classic French dish — it’s simple to make, uses relatively inexpensive (yet ridiculously tasty) cuts of lamb and tastes deeeelicious. And instead of saggy old vegetables hanging out in the stew, it’s served with lovely vibrant freshly steamed veg with a bit of bite. You can use just about any vegetables that are in season; the more colourful the better, I reckon! If fresh tomatoes are in abundance, you can use them instead of canned tomatoes. A little fat on the meat adds flavour, so I’m not too fussy about getting every last skerrick off (it melts during the cooking process anyway). You can also make this dish in a slow cooker. As a general rule of thumb, you need 1 cup of liquid per kilogram of meat for the slow cooker.
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 3 hours
Serves: 6
Ingredients
1.5kg lamb shoulder or neck chops
salt and freshly cracked black pepper
neutral oil for frying (such as rice bran or grape seed)
50g butter
1-2 onions, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1 leek, finely chopped
8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
½ cup white or red wine (or use extra stock)
2 cups lamb stock (or use half beef/half chicken)
1 fresh bay leaf, or 3 dried
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
¼ cup tomato paste
1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water or stock
½ cup finely chopped parsley
To serve
Boiled, steamed or mashed potatoes
Seasonal vegetables (baby carrots, peas, green beans etc.)
splash of olive oil or knob of butter
Method
Preheat the oven to 140c regular bake. Remove the lamb from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking, if you can.
Pat the lamb dry with paper towels, and season all over with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. When the pan is hot, fry the chops a few at a time so they end up crispy and brown on both sides. Transfer to a lidded casserole dish and repeat with the remaining chops.
Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter, onion, shallots and leek to the same pan. Cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes until soft and starting to turn golden. Add the garlic, rosemary and thyme and cook for another few minutes.
Add the wine (or stock), increase the heat and let it bubble for 30 seconds. Add the stock, bay leaves, tomatoes, tomato paste and cornflour mixture. Pour or spoon over the chops in the casserole dish, cover and cook in the oven for 3-4 hours (or transfer to a slow cooker and cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low).
If you like, you can remove the bones from the meat before serving. Stir through most of the parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Steam the vegetables until tender. Add olive oil or butter and remaining parsley, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Serve the lamb stew in large bowls topped with the vegetables.
Made this in the slow cooker, but instead of lamb neck chops we used a whole wild venison neck! It was absolutely delicious along with kumara mash & vege. Will defo be making this again ????
Absolutely delicious! Easy to follow and so tasty. Thanks so much Chelsea
Could you use a slow cooker instead of a casserole dish?
Hey Chelsea thanks so much wonderful recipe so easy, so delicious I love ❤️ your recipes thank yoi
Hi I would love to do this in the pressure cooker. How long would you recommend doing it for? Thanks!
Could I do this with beef chuck instead of lamb?
I have come back to this recipe again and again, it is so delicious and makes me feel like a much better cook than I am. I use inexpensive lamb neck chops and my slow cooker which has a sauté option so means it’s quick and easy to make and I come home to the most beautiful aroma and dinner. Thanks Chelsea
Love this recipe. Can I replace the necks with lamb shanks? I do this recipe in my pressure cooker and it is a success every time.
I had a great dinner last night thanks to your beautiful recipe. Every body loved it and It really brought lots of joy in the house ! I am very grateful, Chelsea! I spent an hour looking through your recipes. You are a fantastic cook!
Great, slow cooker recipe. Have family coming to stay and it’s one of the meal plans.
hey i’ve looked and i have no white wine what about red wine ??
Sure thing.
Delicious! We have a freezer full of homekill meat and it’s great to find new ways of serving up the cheaper chops once the more glamourous cuts have gone. I cooked it in the slow cooker for around 6 hours on low. The sauce was rich and the meat tender and tasty. Thanks, Chelsea!
Great recipe -easy to follow really impressed
Great recipe -easy to follow really impressed
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