Lamb Stew With Pasta Food

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.

LAMB KOKKINISTO (GREEK LAMB STEW)

Steps:

• Rinse the lamb in cold water, pat dry with a paper towel, then coat with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
• In a small bowl, combine the oregano, salt, pepper, and cinnamon to create a dry rub. Rub this mixture on the lamb coating all sides.
• Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large dutch oven pot over medium high heat. Add the lamb to the pot. Brown the lamb on all sides (approx 1-2 mins per side).
• After the lamb is browned on all sides, transfer the lamb to a plate and allow to rest while you prepare the sauce and preheat the oven. Note: You may turn the stove off at this point, but do not throw out the oil nor clean the pan yet.
• Preheat your oven to 300 degrees farenheit (or if you prefer to use a crockpot, start preheating your crockpot).
• Dice the onion, carrot, and garlic. In the same pan that was used for the lamb, cook the onion, carrot, and garlic on medium heat until soft (approximately 5 minutes). Then add the red wine, tomatoes, cinnamon, bay leaves, thyme, and salt to the pot. Stir. Reduce the heat to low to simmer for 5 more minutes.
• Submerge the lamb in the pot with the tomato sauce, cover with a lid and cook slowly in your oven or crockpot until lamb reaches a safe temperature (145-medium rare, 160-medium, 170-well done). Oven time at 300 degrees is approximately 1 and 1/2 hours.
• When the lamb is done cooking, remove from oven and skim the fat off the top and throw away.
• (Optional) Serve over a bed of hilopitaki or orzo pasta.

LAMB STEW WITH PASTA

Steps:

• In a large saucepan cook the lamb and onion in hot oil until the meat is brown.
• Stir water, dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper into the saucepan. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 45 minutes or until the meat is nearly tender.
• Stir mushrooms, green beans, carrot, and pasta into meat mixture. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes more or until meat, vegetables, and pasta are tender. Stir in tomato sauce; heat through.