Greek Lamb Spinach Stew Slow Cooker Food

GREEK BONELESS LEG OF LAMB (SLOW COOKER)

Steps:

• Pat lamb dry and season generously with kosher salt and black pepper on all sides (if you have the time, set it aside at room temperature for up to 1 hour, otherwise continue on)
• Coat the bottom of a large skillet (I used my cast iron skillet) with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. Heat skillet over medium heat until oil is shimmering but not smoking. Add the lamb and brown well on all sides (increase heat to medium-high if needed); about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool enough to handle.
• Cut a few slits into the lamb on both sides and insert a slice of garlic in each of the slits.
• Now make a wet garlic spice rub for the lamb. In a small bowl, combine the minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and paprika. Add lemon juice and 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Coat lamb on all sides with the garlic spice rub.
• Add pearl onions (or shallots) to the bottom of a large slow cooker (crock pot). Add wine and broth, then add the spiced lamb on top.
• Cover slow cooker and set on high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 5 to 6 hours until lamb is fork-tender and you can easily pull it apart.
• Transfer to a serving platter adding the cooking juice on top or to the side to serve along. (See sides to serve along in the notes)

YOUVETSI: GREEK LAMB STEW WITH ORZO

Steps:

• Pat the lamb dry and season with kosher salt and black pepper.
• In a large, ceramic braising pan or heavy pan with a lid, heat 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the lamb and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, tossing regularly, until browned. Transfer the lamb to a large plate for now.
• In the same pan, add the onions and garlic. Season with kosher salt. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until softened.
• Return the lamb to the pan. Add the red wine, oregano, paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg and bay leaf. Cook until the wine has reduced by at least ½, then add 1 cup of water and the tomatoes. Break the tomatoes up using a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and let simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the lamb is cooked through.
• Stir in the orzo and cover the pan. Let cook for another 20 minutes or until the orzo has cooked through and most of the moister has been absorbed.
• Garnish with parsley and crumbled feta, if you like, before serving.

GIOUVETSI (GREEK LAMB STEW WITH ORZO)

Steps:

• Cut the veal into 2-inch cubes; do not debone. In a large stockpot, pour in sufficient water to cover the meat. Toss in 2 to 3 dashes of salt, and drizzle in a touch of vinegar. Boil for 10 minutes. Skim the froth with a slotted spoon, then remove the meat and place into a bowl. Rinse the pot.
• Pour the olive and vegetable oils into the stockpot.
• Chop the onions into 1⁄2-inch cubes, toss in, and sauté over medium-high heat.
• Add the veal cubes, and cover the meat with hot water from a boiling kettle. Partially cover the pot, and stir. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce to medium- high heat. Feed the pot with boiling water, if needed.
• Continue cooking for 45 minutes, then mix in the tomato juice, salt, and pepper.
• Stir, partially cover the pot, and cook for another 10 minutes. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 395°F (200°C).
• Add the kritharaki (orzo) to a large baking dish (ideally, a round clay baking dish), spreading the pasta around with your fingers.
• Mix in 4 cups of hot water from a boiling kettle, and bake. Stir occasionally, making sure the kritharaki doesn't stick to the dish, while allowing the pasta and water to reach a boil (about 15 minutes).
• Then, mix in the tomato juice, and combine the veal and its broth. Bake for 10 minutes.
• Turn off the heat, and let the giouvetsi stand in the oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until the pasta thickens.
• Remove from oven. Let cool, then top with grated Romano cheese. Serve with bread and red wine.

GREEK LAMB STEW

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Into the largest saucepan or casserole you have that will go into the oven, pour 3 tablespoons of the oil. Brown the meat in batches over high heat and remove with a slotted spoon to a plate nearby. You may need more oil as you do this. The onions will certainly need it, so pour the remaining oil or add more, add the onions, sprinkling a little salt over them and cook then until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, celery, thyme, and oregano. After a couple of minutes or so, when the smell of garlic wafts up, remove half the mixture. Add the meat to the mixture in the pan, cover with the remaining half, add the bay leaves, carrots, tomatoes, stock and wine. I use a big but flattish casserole and this amount of liquid covers the meat, but if you find you need more liquid, add water- you want a lot of liquid, because you will, eventually, be cooking some pasta in it. Bring to a boil, remove scum, and let bubble for about 3 minutes. Then cover, transfer to the oven, and bake for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or cook on a very low heat. The meat should be tender and yielding. Remove the carrots (and eat, cook's treat) and bay leaves, too, if you want, and season, to taste, with the salt and pepper.
• Of course you can proceed to the final stage now, but I am presuming you're not going to. In which case, let the stew cool and keep it in the refrigerator until you want it. Skim the fat off the top, and do remember to take it out of the refrigerator a good 1 to 2 hours before you cook it again. You can reheat this in the oven, but because the pasta will be put in on the stove, I tend to heat it there. Make sure the stew is piping hot. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. When it boils, add the salt and then pasta. Cook this until it's nearly but not quite cooked; it should have a couple of minutes still to go.
• Then drain the pasta and add it quickly to the bubbling juices in the casserole, making sure first that there are enough bubbling juices. You don't want the meat to be drowned, but you want enough for the pasta to be covered. The pasta will absorb some of the liquid as it finishes cooking, of course.
• In a couple of minutes, the pasta should be cooked. Crumble some feta and put in a bowl with the chopped parsley, oregano, or basil. Stir to combine and then leave the spoon with it, so that people can sprinkle the herb-spiked cheese over the stew as they wish. Ladle the stew into shallow soup bowls.

GREEK LAMB & SPINACH STEW (SLOW COOKER)

Steps:

• Mix lamb pieces, tomatoes, onion, garlic, Greek seasoning, salt and pepper in a 3 1/2-quart or larger slow cooker.
• Cover and cook on low 7-9 hours until lamb is tender when pierced.
• Mash 1 cup beans. Stir mashed and whole beans, artichoke hearts and spinach into cooker.
• Cover and cook on high 15 minutes or until spinach wilts and mixture is hot. Stir in lemon zest; sprinkle with feta and serve.

SLOW-COOKED GREEK LAMB

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F.
• Set the lamb leg in a large roasting pan, and season it well with sea salt and black pepper. Sprinkle the meat with the oregano and pour the lemon juice and wine over top. Drizzle the lamb with the olive oil and roast until the exterior is browned, about 20 minutes.
• Add the water to the bottom of the pan and cover the lamb loosely with foil. Reduce the oven temperature to 315 degrees F, and roast the lamb for another 1 1/2 hours.
• At this point, arrange the potato chunks and lemon quarters around the lamb and return the pan to the oven for another 2 hours, turning the potatoes at least once and basting the lamb with the pan juices. The lamb should be very tender. Remove the meat from the pan and set it aside to rest before slicing.
• Increase the oven's heat to 425 degrees F.
• Add the olives to the potatoes and return the pan to the oven until the potatoes are golden, about 20 minutes. Serve the vegetables with the lamb and with some pan juices spooned over the top.

SLOW-COOKED GREEK LAMB

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and sit a shelf as low as possible. Pierce the lamb all over with a small knife, then fill each slit with a garlic clove and half an anchovy fillet. Rub all over with the oil, then season.
• Heat a flameproof casserole dish and sear the lamb all over until well browned. Take off the heat, remove the lamb from the dish and tip in the tomatoes, carrots, sage and rosemary. Sit the lamb on top and scatter over the thyme.
• Cover the dish, slip it onto the bottom shelf of the oven and cook for 4-5 hrs until pull-apart tender. Carefully lift the lamb from the dish, discard the herbs and roughly squash the tomatoes into the juices. Sit the lamb back in the dish and serve in big shredded chunks with tzatziki, chickpea salad and flatbreads for mopping up the juices.

GREEK LAMB STEW

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Season the lamb with salt and pepper, add to the pot, and cook until deeply browned, about 5 minutes on each side. Stir in the onions and garlic, and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes.
• Pour the wine into the pot, and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, lamb stock, lemon zest and juice, oregano, cinnamon, and bay leaf. Bring back to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lamb is very tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Stir in the green beans and cook until they are tender, about 20 additional minutes.
• Remove the bay leaf and any bones from the stew. Garnish stew with chopped fresh parsley.

SLOW-COOKED GREEK EASTER LAMB WITH LEMONS, OLIVES & BAY

Steps:

• Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Arrange the unpeeled garlic cloves, 3 bay leaves and the lemon quarters in a large roasting dish and cover with 200ml cold water. Sit the lamb on top, drizzle with the olive oil and rub it in all over.
• Using a small sharp knife, cut small incisions in the lamb skin, then tuck the remaining peeled and sliced garlic and bay leaves into these slits.
• Season the lamb well and sprinkle over the cinnamon. Cover tightly with foil and place in the oven. Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Leave to cook for 4 hrs, skimming the fat from the juices and removing the foil for the final 30 mins of cooking.
• After 1 hr, put the potato wedges in a large roasting tin, coat them in 4 tbsp olive oil and season well. Roast in the oven with the lamb for 11/2-2 hrs.
• Transfer the cooked lamb to a large piece of foil, wrap tightly and leave to rest for 20-30 mins. Check the potatoes are cooked (if you need to, turn the oven up to 220C/200C fan/gas 7 to finish cooking). Add the olives and wine to the pan juices, simmer them and keep warm until ready to carve. Serve the lamb thickly sliced with the olives, potatoes and Tahini & lemon sauce (see 'goes well with'), with the meat juices poured over at the last minute.

GREEK LAMB STEW WITH FETA

Steps:

• Trim fat from lamb and cut into 1 inch cubes.
• In a shallow dutch oven, heat oil over med high heat, then brown lamb in batches and add to slow cooker.
• Drain fat from dutch oven, then add onions, garlic, rind, salt, allspice and cinnamon, frying over med heat, stirring occasionally until onions are softened (about 5 minutes).
• Sprinkle with flour - cook stirring, for 1 minute. Add beef stock & tomato paste, then bring to a boil and stir and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour into slow cooker.
• Cover and cook on low for 6 - 8 hours or on high for 4 - 5 hours, until the lamb is tender.
• Stir in artichokes, then cover and cook for 15 minutes to heat through. Serve sprinkled with feta and parsley!

SLOW COOKER LAMB STEW

Steps:

• Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add lamb and onions. Cook until lamb is brown and onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer mixture to a slow cooker.
• Add carrots, celery, mushrooms, potatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, beer, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, salt, and pepper; stir to combine and close slow cooker.
• Cook on High for 7 hours. Add peas and cook an additional 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.