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Mariel here. This past weekend, my mumsie and I headed out to our family home to work on recipes for Feast. But after a four-hour drive (it should only take two) and enduring the brake-slamming road rage of furious New Yorkers on the LIE, we decided to save our sanity and eat at a local Asian joint. We’ll cook Saturday, we reasoned.
As Saturday rolled on, we went shopping, we went bargain-hunting, we movie-watched and we grazed on guacamole (store-bought!), soft cheese and leftover soup. A proper home-cooked meal seemed to be off the menu, but to be honest, I think we both needed a break from the kitchen.
On Sunday, I returned home rejuvenated, reinvigorated, but craving a solid, structured meal. Having culled a few morsels of inspiration from our weekend of laziness (and restaurant-eating), I decided to try my hand at lamb, which is typically my mother’s forte. Success! Everyone loved it, everyone cleaned their plates, and everyone had seconds. And by everyone I mean me, my husband and my dogs.
This savory-sweet dish is cooked using just one pot (an XL flameproof, lidded casserole) and it’s as simple as it is succulent (sorry, I hate that word, but it’s truly the best descriptor). Allot about 15 minutes of prepping and 105 minutes of relatively hands-off cooking. Also, it looks and tastes like a lot of work went into it, so it’s an ideal meal for entertaining a large, fussy crowd. Added bonus: it costs under $20. I suggest serving this alongside a simple Green Salad with Montrachet Croutons.
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One Pot Wonders: Lamb with Sweet Pears and Leeks
Makes 5 entree-size servings
Ingredients:
2 lbs lamb stew meat, cubed and trimmed of visible fat (I used bone-in meat, next time I’d opt for boneless) – $8.00
5 pears, peeled, cored and quartered (I used Bosc) – $3.23
4 medium red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks – $1.72
1 leek bunch, just use the white/light green root, slice into strips that are 1-inch wide, 3-inches long – $2.49
1 TBS olive oil – stock
1 cup applesauce (I used sweetened, b/c that’s what I had) – $1.39
2 TBS sherry – stock
1 tsp ground ginger – stock
Pinch of thyme – stock
Pinch of garlic powder – stock
Salt & pepper to taste – stock
Grand total assuming well-stocked kitchen: $16.83
Cost per serving: $3.37
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
2. Heat the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole over medium-high heat. Add the lamb and cook until browned on all sides (about 8 minutes).
3. In the casserole, arrange the pear pieces on top of the browned lamb and sprinkle the pears with ginger. Cover with the potatoes.
4. In a small cup, mix the sherry and applesauce, pour over the potatoes/pears/lamb. Season with thyme, garlic and salt & pepper to taste (don’t go too nuts though, you can always add more salt later). Cover and cook in the preheated oven for 80 minutes.
5. After 80 mins, remove the casserole from the oven and add the leeks (need a refresher on slicing and prepping leeks, check out Cookthink.com‘s step-by-step tutorial). Re-cover the casserole dish and return to the oven for an additional 25 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning and serve hot.
