Slow Cooker Recipe: Lamb Cooked in Red Wine

Slow cooker love - simply take a half shoulder of lamb or a leg of lamb joint and brown in a large frying pan.  Add to the slow cooker.  Throw a few quartered red onions into the slow cooker, and you needn't even peel them, because you will be straining all those fabulous slow cooker juices afterwards.  Add a few cloves of crushed garlic, bay leaves, sprigs of thyme and rosemary.  This is herb love too - my pots of herbs have been very kind to me and seemed to thrive on a poor summer, well - it's good to know some things like poor summers.

Deglaze the frying pan with red wine, I used Shiraz but any full bodied red wine is ideal, bring to the boil and add to the lamb. Season with freshly ground salt and pepper.  Cook on high for 5 hours or until falling off the bone, this way you don't need to use any butchery skills but can use two spoons to pull the lamb apart into reasonably sized pieces.  Strain the slow cooker juices over a saucepan, add some redcurrant jelly to sweeten and thicken with a a few instant thickening granules, which are available from most supermarkets.

No photograph of the cooked lamb, because it never looks very photogenic when cooked, but what it lacks in looks it makes up for with taste, it is so delicious.  You can use lamb shanks and these are equally delicious.

Recipe: Lamb Tagine by Mary Berry

Just by looking at the list of ingredients in this recipe you can tell all those spices are going to make this fabulous.

This recipe is by Mary Berry and one I make time and again.  It's one pot cooking and can be cooked in the slow cooker too.  The flavours pack a punch and my kitchen always smells wonderful when this is cooking. I have slightly adapted the recipe and added some chicken stock to loosen the sauce. I made this for the two of us and halved the list of ingredients, although for the lamb I used 300g. The tagine is best made the day before and left in the fridge overnight for the flavours to develop.

Lamb neck fillet from Waitrose was used in my recipe. For some unknown reason the butchers around here don't seem to sell it.

One of my hubs favourite meals and I craftily always make this if I've been out and bought things I didn't realise I needed:)

I served mine with rice purely because we aren't fans of couscous.

You will need:

1 tbs sunflower oil, 900g neck fillet of lamb, boneless shoulder or leg, 2 large onions, 3 cloves garlic crushed, 175g quartered dried apricots, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon ground paprika, ⅛ tsp hot chilli powder, 1 generous pinch of saffron soaked in 3 tbs hot water, 2 tbs honey, 800g tinned chopped tomatoes, ½ pint of chicken stock, chopped parsley and coriander to garnish.

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Heat the oil in a large casserole and brown lamb in batches. When browned, remove and put on one side.
3. Add the chopped onions and garlic to a pan on a low heat, stir and then cover for around 10-15 minutes until soft.
4. Increase the heat and add the spices including saffron and soaking liquid.
5. Add the apricots, honey, tomatoes and lamb. Add some of the stock to loosen the mixture - you may need to top up the casserole during cooking to make a sauce.
6. Bring to the boil, season and cover with a lid. Pop in the oven for at least two hours.
7. Garnish with lots of parsley and coriander and serve either with couscous or rice.

AFGHAN LAMB STEW WITH SPINACH

I have never cooked, or eaten Afghan food before, and I obviously didn't know what to expect. A fellow foodie gave me the link to an Internet site called in mamas kitchen and this is where the above recipe came from.
The stew is very easy to prepare and has wonderful spices added to the rich tomato sauce, namely, cinnamon, cardamom, chilli powder and turmeric. If you find the sauce isn't spicy enough then I would just add more to taste.
I cooked my stew in the slow cooker for about 5 hours on high and the meat was meltingly tender and the sauce wonderfully rich.
After cooling, the stew can be stored in the fridge for a day or two and then it will taste even better.
When you are ready to eat the stew, reheat, add the spinach, swirl the yoghurt through the sauce and top with toasted pine nuts, serve with boiled rice and naan bread.
Would I make it again? Perhaps not. I used the original recipe (scaled down) for test purposes and found the sauce a little light in the spice department, although I loved the spinach, yoghurt and pine nuts combo. I think for the finished dish to look good when it is plated up the rice and stew possibly needs to be served in separate bowls.

LAMB SHANK STEW WITH CREAMY MASH

I have been working my way through various cookery books over the last year or so to find a lamb shank recipe that I have been really pleased with, and this is it. The Australian Women's Weekly cookery books suit my style of cooking. Fearing whether or not a recipe is going to work just isn't an issue with these books - all the recipes I have used in the past have been wonderful. I am looking forward to trying other lamb shank recipes now from their books.

THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY -
FOOD WE LOVE

ISBN 186396477-0

LAMB SHANK STEW WITH CREAMY MASH
- PAGE 71

Serves: 8 people (but can easily be scaled down).

Skill Level: Moderate.

Taste Test: The meat was meltingly tender and the sauce was rich.

This recipe lends itself to being made in the slow cooker - it only takes 5 hours on high. If you do use a slow cooker you will have to dice the vegetables finely otherwise they won't cook.
I made this for two people and so the recipe had to be scaled down accordingly, but I kept the 500ml of red wine in and used half a litre of chicken stock.
It says in the recipe to strain the pan juices and then discard the solids (what a waste!!). I strained the pan juices and served the diced vegetables separately, after all they were cooked in red wine.
I made the mash but left out the cream and I didn't use all of the butter it states in the recipe. Buttered spring cabbage was served with this dish.
The sauce and meat were fabulous - what more can I say but try this recipe for yourself and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Alligator Vegetable Dicer.

GREEK LAMB STEW

I have made this once before, but wasn't too happy with the result. This time it was perfect. I cooked it in the slow cooker, popped it in the fridge overnight and then the next day I brought it to the boil on the hob and then cooked the stew again for a few hours in the slow cooker.


HOW TO EAT BY NIGELLA LAWSON

ISBN 0701165766 - Page 108

Serves: 10 people but the recipe can easily be scaled down.

Skill Level: Easy

Taste Test: The meat was meltingly tender and the sauce was luscious.

It is important to lightly brown the meat and not to make the meat too crusty. The onions really do need some long slow cooking on the hob before adding them to the stew pot - use Nigella's tip and sprinkle the onions whilst they are cooking with salt and this stops them browning, remember this isn't a brown stew and so caramelized onions are not what you are after here, but soft and translucent.
For the wine I used a chardonnay and this seemed to be perfect for the sauce, perhaps my choice of wine was wrong last time and hence I wasn't too happy with the end result.
Nigella suggests using ditalini pasta but I couldn't get hold of this and so used festoni pasta from Waitrose. The pasta should be stirred into the stew at the end, but I chose to serve the pasta separately.
The feta cheese mixed with parsley, was crumbled over the top, and melted into the stew beautifully. Don't be tempted to leave out the cheese and parsley, otherwise you will be disappointed with the end result. I served the stew with some sundried tomato bread.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Slow Cooker.

STEAK AND KIDNEY PUDDING

This recipe and method was an amalgamation taken from two cookery books. I made this on a cold Autumn day and was delighted with both the recipe and method. The suet pastry is simplicity itself. Light servings of vegetables are the only accompaniment required.

The recipe was taken from:

GASTROPUB CLASSICS by TRISH HILFERTY

ISBN: 1904573533 - PAGE 178

SKILL LEVEL: Moderate.

TASTE TEST: The red wine sauce was delicious, as was the filling. The suet pastry was not too heavy.

This is steak and kidney pudding with a twist, as red wine, as well as beef stock is used to cook the stewing steak. The filling ingredients are left to cool and then the individual pies can be assembled. By using this method the pies cook in 2 hours instead of the usual 5 hours steaming time. I did not use the quantities stated, as I was going to make the puddings in four small basins, but used the quantity of meat specified in the book mentioned below.

The method used was taken from:

THE COOK'S BOOK

ISBN: 1405303379 - PAGE 310 - (Marcus Wareing recipe)
For a similar Marcus Wareing recipe

The method used to line the individual basins (lining them with clingfilm) was something I had not come across before, but I will be using this method again as the puddings came out of the tins so easily.

BEEF IN DESIGNER BEER

Beer drinkers and non-beer drinkers alike will want to make this simply because of the recipe’s name.

DELIA SMITH’S WINTER COLLECTION

ISBN 0563364777 – PAGE 124

Recipe

Serves: 4-6 people.

Skill Level: Easy

Taste Test: The sauce in this was very bitter, this must have been because of the beer I chose. Don’t be tempted to leave out the croutons they are delicious.

TIP 1: Ask someone who drinks beer for some advice on which to buy for this dish.

TIP 2: Make sure you buy good quality braising steak.

TIP 3: The croutons are a must for this recipe.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Tefal non-stick frying pan.

HUNGARIAN GOULASH

A colourful and tasty one-pot dish to serve with lots of mashed potato and vegetables or perhaps just plain boiled rice.

DELIA SMITH’S COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED COOKERY COURSE – A NEW EDITION FOR THE 1990s.

ISBN780563214540 – PAGE 152.

Serves: 4 people.

Skill Level: Easy.

Taste Test: Eat this with your eyes – the sauce is a beautiful colour and tastes wonderful. A brilliant autumnal dish.

TIP 1: Use good quality beef from a reputable butcher.

TIP 2: If you can’t obtain soured cream – I have used natural yoghurt very successfully.

TIP 3: Make this in advance, refrigerate and eat the next day it will then taste even better.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Le Creuset Casserole Dish – this is enamelled cast ironware, comes in a range of colours and is very useful for making casseroles etc.

BOEUF BOURGUIGNONNE

Another slow cooked dish with plenty of flavours, it might not be picture perfect but it tastes delicious.

DELIA SMITH’S COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED COOKERY COURSE – A NEW EDITION FOR THE 1990s.

ISBN780563214540 – PAGE 153

Recipe

Serves: 6 people.

Skill Level: Moderately Easy.

Taste Test: Excellent – the sauce is fabulous, it tastes as good as it looks.

TIP 1: To make this more economical, I use a small bottle of red wine and 5fl oz of beef stock.

TIP 2: I have used slices of streaky bacon and this is fine.

TIP 3: Dark flat mushrooms – sometimes called field mushrooms – must be used to give the sauce a good colour and flavour.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Meyer stainless steel casserole dish.

ENGLISH POT-ROAST

A wonderful Sunday one-pot dinner to lift the spirits when the weather is grey and miserable.

DELIA SMITH’S COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED COOKERY COURSE – A NEW EDITION FOR THE 1990s.

ISBN780563214540 – PAGE 132.

Serves: 4 - 6 people.

Skill Level: Easy.

Taste Test: Excellent – This is home comfort food at its best, and the meat is very tender.

TIP 1: I left out the swede and the end result was still very good.

TIP 2: Eat with Delia’s Yorkshire Pudding Page 130 and reviewed on my blog.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Large Le Creuset Casserole Dish – this is enamelled cast ironware and is great for making casseroles etc.