Roast leg of lamb has been an Easter tradition for longer than there’s been Easter. The tradition of lamb as a celebratory meal is as old as Passover. The Jews in captivity in Egypt marked the doorposts with the blood of a first born lamb so that the plague of the first born ‘passed over’ their houses. But it’s also a practical tradition, particularly in the northern hemisphere when lamb is readily available in the spring.
A fun fact about lamb – it’s the only meat (excluding poultry) that’s not banned by a major religion. And Americans eat much less lamb than Europeans. Several historical reasons for this: the rise of cattle ranching in America (sheep make pasture unsuitable for cattle for months) and the presence of more predators. Remember, Europe has been largely settled and agrarian for much longer.
Leg of lamb is nice but the first time I put a lamb shoulder in my slow cooker – I was a convert. I’m a big fan of slow cooking and making a stew that can be frozen in batches makes more sense this year when it’s just two of us. I have a CrockPot slow cooker that sautés as well as slow cooks. It makes this a genuine one pot dish. You can also make the sauce in deep frying pan on the stove.
There are a couple of variations to ‘finish off’ the stew. I prefer adding pearl barley towards the end of cooking – it takes care of the carbs and the pearl barley freezes well. You can also thicken the stew with either cornstarch or beurre manie, as you prefer.
Let’s cook.
Ingredients
Lamb shoulder, 2 to 4 pounds, jointed so that it fits in your slow cooker
20 pitted prunes
Mild olive oil for sautéing
1 clove of garlic minced fine (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 chopped onion
2 chopped carrots
1 tablespoon minced ginger (I buy mine in jars, can’t be bothered to keep fresh ginger in the house)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
300 mls red wine (I like Beaujolais or a young Burgundy)
300 mls lamb stock or chicken stock if you can’t get lamb
200 grams or 1 cup of dried pearl barley (if using)
Instructions
- Heat up the slow cooker.
- Make the sauce, either in the slow cooker or in a deep fry pan on the stove. Heat olive oil, add onion, carrots, garlic, ginger, cinnamon and a twist of salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is translucent.
- Add the wine, increase the heat and burn off the alcohol. Add the stock and bring to a boil.
- Combine sauce, lamb and prunes in the slow cooker. I cook this for 6 hours on high in total but you’ll know how your slow cooker works.
- About 90 minutes before the stew is done add the pearl barley, make sure it’s submerged in the sauce.
- When complete, gently remove the lamb from the slow cooker, it will be falling off the bone. Allow it to cool until you can handle it, then shred it – use two forks to pull it off the bone. Return the meat to the sauce and it’s ready to serve.
- If you haven’t used the pearl barley, the sauce will be thin. You can thicken as normal with corn flour (cornstarch to Americans). Here’s a link to BBC Good Food. Or you can beurre manié. Here’s a good description of how it works.
I serve this with some roast vegetables on the side. If you haven’t added the pearl barley, combine with your carbs of choice; mashed potatoes, rice or couscous.
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