LAMB AND YAM STEW: a guest post by The Nourished Caveman ~

This weeks guest post is by Vivica, also known as The Nourished Caveman.  


Her blog is absolutely one of my favorites, filled with beautiful pictures and hearty, nourishing meals.  Today Vivica shares her version of Lamb and Yam Stew, a perfect meal to warm and fill your family's belly!


Please visit The Nourished Caveman for more delicious recipes! 

Hi I am Vivica from The Nourished Caveman, and first of all I want to thank Jess for letting me write a recipe for her wonderful blog, Nummy for My Tummy!!

This recipe is actually not mine, it is a classic old recipe from Italy, my homeland, which was redone by Sarah Fragoso for her Italian Paleo cookbook.

This brings me to this interesting piece of trivia about her and I: Sarah lives in Chico CA and she went to Italy to collect recipes for this cookbook. I am Italian and I moved to the States and now live right near Chico where I write Paleo recipes for my blog. Life is funny sometimes!

When I saw her book in a bookstore I was intrigued.

I ended up buying it as a present for a friend, and decided to try one recipe before giving it to her.

Well, I liked the stew recipe but had to make my own modifications to it, corresponding to my way of cooking Italian, which is from the North, and very specific to its region.

For example I really do not like to put tomatoes in my stews. It always reminds me of the taste of pasta sauce. I prefer the flavor of fresh herbs, garlic, onion, and red wine.

For this stew she also uses sundried tomatoes, which end up melting into the broth giving a nice sweetness to the meat, without the strong tomatoey taste., so I kept them in.

Another thing I do not like mixed with meat is saffron. Must be memories form the cafeteria of my catholic boarding school!! So I skipped it and used beef broth instead of water to give the flavors more depth and roundness.

Usually I would deglaze with red wine, but here I thought the sundried tomatoes already brought enough taste to the dish and did not want to burden it down. I like clean, robust flavors in a stew!

Here is my version of the recipe, I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to compare it to Sarah’s!

Serves 4 people

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 pound of lamb stew meat (best if from your local farmer)
• 1 cup sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped (the dried ones, not in oil)
• 2 organic garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 1 large organic sweet onion
• 3 cups of bone broth
• 2 large organic garnet yams, peeled and cubed
• 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon of fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
• 3/4 tablespoons ghee OR schmalz OR lard
• unrefined sea salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat fat in a dutch-oven or heavy bottom casserole, add the sliced onion and garlic and saute’ on a low flame till translucent.  
2. On the side brown all the meat in a large skillet on a high flame, dividing it into small batches so that it just quickly sears the surface.
3. Now add the meat to the onion mix, and stir well.
4. In the meantime deglaze the skillet with a cup of broth, scraping all the nice brown bits from the bottom.
5. Pour the deglazing liquid on top of the meat, add the chopped herbs and sundried tomatoes and a good pinch of salt.
6. Bring to a boil, then lower flame to a simmer and cook for about 45 minutes.
7. Add yams to pot and simmer covered for about 30/45 min, until liquid is reduced and yams are fully cooked.

Created by Vivica Menegaz - blogger, cook, nutrition consultant, traveler, photographer and expat. Graduate of Pasadena Art Center for Design. Previous resident of Milano, Los Angeles, Salvador Bahia; currently residing in Northern California on a small homestead with her husband and many pets.

Read more about me on my blog http://thenourishedcaveman.com

 

Or my FB page: www.facebook.com/TheNourishedCaveman