7/3/12 Lamb stew with gnocchi

Background - this is another recipe I found in Saveur magazine. I rarely cook with lamb, so I thought it would be a nice change of pace. If you want to make this recipe, be prepared to start the night before and devote a few hours to babysitting it the next evening.

I couldn't find the recipe online. Here's a close recipe - you will just substitute one small eggplant for the zucchini.

http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/208922-Lamb-Stew-Baked-with-Potato-Gnocchi

Starting the night before, you'll need to marinate the lamb in red wine, olive oil, rosemary, bay leaves and garlic.

 Looks delicious, doesn't it?

I had to purchase two mini crocks for the recipe. They're so cute...

The next day, give yourself about 3 hours to make the recipe.

Here are all the ingredients:

The recipe calls for fresh garlic, but I still had some leftover minced garlic in a jar to use up, so I substituted that. The Saveur recipe calls for gnocchi made from scratch. Let's not get ahead of ourselves...the box of gnocchi will do just fine. The recipe link I included was smart enough to agree with me on the boxed gnocchi.


1. Trim, core, and thinly slice half the fennel bulb. ONLY the bulb. Fennel has the consistency of celery, and smells like licorice. It's an odd veggie. This was my first time using fennel in a recipe. Mince the red onion. Heat a pot over medium heat. Add meat and marinade, fennel, onion, and vegetable stock. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes.

2. Trim, peel, and chop eggplant into 1-inch pieces. This was my first time cooking with eggplant. Add eggplant and tomato paste to pot, lower heat to med-low, and simmer for 2 hours until the lamb is super tender and the liquid has reduced by 1/3. The tomato paste I used came in a tube. I usually end up throwing out tomato paste when I buy it in a can, so this time I bought a tube. It's more expensive, but you can just cap it and stick it in the fridge until you need it again, which saves money in the long run.

 After 2 hours, I thought the liquid was still a bit watery, and I prefer my stew a little more gravy-y, so I made a beurre manie, which is French for "kneaded butter". You mix equal parts softened butter and flour and add to the sauce. It almost instantly thickens it. You need to cook it for at least 5 minutes after you add the beurre manie to get rid of any flour taste. I used 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour and it was perfect.

Before you add any gnocchi, make sure you take the rosemary stem and bay leaves out of the stew!!!!

3. Bring a pot of water to a boil, then add gnocchi and a TON of salt. The box calls for 3 tablespoons, which seems like a lot, but once you taste how bland gnocchi is, you'll understand why you add so much salt to the water.

4. Drain gnocchi and add to stew. Stir together and put in the little crocks.

5. Top with shredded cheese. The recipe calls for pecorino romano cheese, but I had leftover provolone from last night's philly cheesesteak spring rolls, so I just used that.

6. Stick in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and stew is bubbling.

This is what the recipe in the magazine looks like when finished:

 Marcus and I both agreed that the gnocchi is VERY heavy in the stew, and potatoes would have tasted better. It would be a comforting meal in the dead of winter in Salt Lake City, but July in Albuquerque didn't quite fit the food. I would probably not make this again. The lamb did get super soft though. I couldn't really taste the fennel or the eggplant.

As usual, whenever I cook a meal, this is the carnage I left behind:

Let me know if you try this recipe, and what you think of it.