Tonight, I shall dine on my tweaked take on the French classic, Navarin of Lamb.
Navarin of Lamb is a traditional French dish, considered a classic, and is relatively easy to prepare.
However, this is a dish that does require time, and some planning, the sort of dish that requires a "mise en place", in other words, all of the gathering of the ingredients, and prep done, before you start cooking.
This is a one pot dish, and the ingredients are lamb (I used several gigot chops, keeping the bone and fat, roughly cut into large pieces, rather than the suggested shoulder of lamb, as I dine alone mostly, and that is better for a large gathering, or family), carrots, onions, garlic, tomato puree/paste, stock, a little white wine, anchovies (they bestow a divine flavour when melted into the olive oil), cherry tomatoes, peas, parsley, thyme, freshly ground black pepper, a little sugar, and potatoes.
One starts by browning the lamb pieces in olive oil on both sides, - you are not cooking them, merely browning them sealing them - in a large pot or pan, one to which you have a lid (a Le Crueuset casserole, or, as was called into service by me - a large Le Mauviel pan).
Remove the lamb, and put it aside in a dish.
This is when I added the diced anchovies, and stirred them through which allowed them to melt into the olive oil - anchovies go very well with lamb, and add a terrific umami taste to the dish.
Next, the pan plays host to the mire poix, the diced vegetables, onions and carrots, which are added, and allowed to soften; garlic (six fine fat cloves of new season's garlic), joins them, and, when that lot are nice and soft and translucent, so do the cherry tomatoes, the lot seasoned with freshly ground black pepper, a little sea salt, and the sugar (if using; sugar will soften the acidity of whatever form of tomatoes are used; at this stage, some will use a tin of tomatoes, as I would probably do in winter, but I had lots of cherry tomatoes to hand and used them instead).
This is when the meat rejoins them in the pan, and the tomato paste/puree (one or two tablespoons) is added and stirred through. White wine (a small glass) to deglaze, and the stock is added, along with some seasoning, if needed.
Bring this to the boil, replace the lid, and allow to simmer for the best part of an hour. After an hour - or 45-50 minutes - check the dish, the liquid levels, (add a little more water if necessary) and check the meat for doneness (by the time it is ready, you will want the meat falling from the bone).
This is when you add the peeled, diced - into decent sized chunks - potatoes, and let them cook in the casserole, something that will take a further twenty to twenty five minutes.
When the potatoes are ready, add the peas - they are traditional with this dish, - I used a mug (Le Creuset, naturally) of frozen peas which had mostly defrosted by the time they joined the pan, and allow them to heat through and cook, four or five minutes.
The dish is now ready, and is garnished with a generous quantity of freshly chopped parsley.
Delicious, and - as is the case with many such casseroles - it is even better the following day.
I served it with a glass of red wine, although a fairly robust white would go equally well with it.