How to Make Lamb Casserole
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 40 mins
Cooking time: 2 hours
Ingredients needed to make Lamb Casserole:
For the casserole:
- 1 lb shoulder of lamb, chopped into ¾’’ dices
- 2 celery sticks, diced
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 fresh rosemary sprig, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp plain white flour, seasoned
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 oz butter
- ½ pint chicken stock
- ½ pint red wine
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
For the braised cabbage:
- 1 lb red cabbage, cored and shredded
- 2 oz butter
- 3 tbsp red wine
- 9 fl ruby port
- 3 oz raisins
- 2 tbsp redcurrant jelly
- Juice and grated zest of an orange
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Cooking instructions for Lamb Casserole:
- Warm up your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Stuff a resealable plastic bag with the lamb cubes and dust them with the seasoned flour.
- Seal the bag and shake it well so that the meat chunks are properly coated.
- Heat a skillet over moderate heat and drizzle oil over it, along with a knob of butter.
- Once the butter melts and the oil heats up, throw in the dredged lamb cubes and saute them over high heat , stirring often, until they brown evenly and nicely.
- Tip the browned meat into a casserole and set aside.
- Add the tomato puree into the pan, along with a bout of red wine and whisk them together.
- Heat the mixture until it begins to boil, scraping up all the brown bits stuck at the base of the pan and stirring them into the mixture.
- Transfer this mixture over the lamb chunks in the casserole, along with the stock, garlic and diced veggies.
- Sprinkle the chopped rosemary over them, followed by a dash of seasonings and give the mixture a nice stir to mix well.
- Fasten a tight fitting lid to the casserole and bake in the oven at the preheated temperature for about 1 ½ hours or until the contents in it are cooked through.
- Take it out of the oven, uncover and adjust the seasonings if required; set aside and keep warm in oven at low heat.
- To braise the cabbage, melt butter in a oven proof pan and throw in the cabbage.
- Toss well to coat and stir in the red current jelly.
- Cook the mixture until the jelly melts and pour in the vinegar, orange juice as well as the zest.
- Add a dash of seasonings and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer it for an hour.
- Add the raisins, give it a nice stir to mix and continue to simmer for another half an hour.
- Once the cabbage is tender, remove from heat and spoon them at the side of serving plates.
- Serve alongside the lamb casserole.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
