Flashback Friday - Lamb Stew

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on March 17, 2011.

So it's St. Patrick's Day and most of you are probably planning to whip up some corned beef and cabbage with a side of potatoes, or something else traditionally consumed on this day. Green beer, perhaps. Or a Shamrock shake. Personally, I'm in the mood for some stew.

"Irish" stew typically contains lamb or mutton, onions, carrots, and of course, potatoes. While it's very tasty, I'm feeling a little more exotic this week. My stew still contains lamb, onion, and carrots, but the overall flavor profile leans more toward the Chinese, with the potatoes replaced by steamed rice.

Pretty, no? Tasty, yes!

Lamb Stew a la Chinoise

1 tablespoon canola oil
3 lbs cubed lamb
1 cup sliced onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
2 cloves chopped garlic
6 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon crushed Sichuan peppercorns
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons black bean and garlic sauce
2 tablespoons soy
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon Sriracha
1 star anise, broken
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 cup mixed vegetables (I used frozen peas and edamame)

In a dutch oven, heat the oil and brown the lamb in batches. When uniformly brown on all sides, remove lamb to a bowl and set aside. Into the hot fat left in the pan, add the peppercorns and toast for about a minute, then add the onions, celery, carrot, and ginger and saute until vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute another minute or two. Add the meat back to the pot along with the remaining ingredients and bring mixture to a boil. After reaching a boil, turn the heat down to low and allow the stew to simmer for 3 hours, or until meat is very tender.

Place cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk in enough of the stew liquid to make a thin paste (about half a cup). Whisk cornstarch slurry into stew, and stir until thickened.

Stir in additional and cook until tender, about 10 minutes more.

Serve with sauteed cabbage.

Sautéed Cabbage

1/2 cabbage cut into shreds as for coleslaw
1 teaspoon veg oil
2 tablespoons chopped scallions
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
salt and pepper to taste

Heat vegetable oil in a sauté pan. Add cabbage and toss to coat with oil. Stir fry for about 3 minutes, until cabbage begins to soften. Add remaining ingredients and toss to coat. Cook until warmed through, an additional 2 minutes. Serve atop lamb stew, or as a side dish to something else.

Chinese Cassoulet?

A while back, we tasted a seafood cassoulet made by B&O American Brasserie's new chef, Mike Ransom. While it had multiple proteins and white beans, I suggested that it could do with a bit of sausage, perhaps Spanish chorizo. Of course Spanish chorizo wouldn't be typically used in cassoulet, which is a French dish, but I am no traditionalist. (Neither is the chef, it seems.) That got me to thinking about what other sausages would work with beans. As I was nibbling on leftover dim sum, Chinese sausages came to mind. Cold weather was afoot; why not warm up the house with a cassoulet-style dish of duck and beans and...Chinese sausage?

I've decided that it's a fine idea to keep a package of duck legs in the freezer. We get them at Great Wall, a Chinese grocery store in Catonsville, but you can pick them up at most Asian grocers or a fancy supermarket. They're not cheap, but they take up far less room in the freezer than a whole duck, with the added benefit that they thaw more quickly and are less hassle to roast. Roasting duck really makes the house smell great. Great, that is, to a carnivore. Not sure how vegetarians would feel about the fatty aromas that emanated from my oven not too long ago, but I was a happy camper.

I had originally wanted to try the type of Chinese sausage we normally buy, the long, slender, and wrinkled type that are cured, dried, and lightly smoked, but we were out. Mr Minx popped over to Asia Foods on York Road but could only find stubby, fat, uncured sausages. Fortunately, they turned out to be absolutely perfect for this dish.

While the duck got a head start on roasting, I opened up a couple cans of cannelini beans and added a bit of flavoring. I didn't want to overdo it, so started with equal parts doubanjian (a spicy Chinese bean paste), soy sauce, and black vinegar. If you've never used black vinegar, you're missing out on some amazing caramelized goodness. One tablespoon of each was perfect - the beans were spicy, salty, and tangy, with that lovely molasses-y flavor of the black vinegar. Then I added a bit of sugar to round everything out. Mixed with sauteed onions and scallions, the beans, studded with chunks of Chinese pork sausage, made a tasty bed for the duck legs as they finished roasting to a brown crispness.

Cassoulet with Asian Flavors

2 duck legs
1/2 cup duck or bacon fat
Kosher salt
1/2 pound Chinese pork sausages, preferably xiang chang--small, fat, uncured sausages
1 medium onion, chopped
6 scallions, chopped
6 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chicken stock
2-15 1/2 ounce cans of cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
1-2 tablespoons doubanjian
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar
Pinch sugar
Cilantro

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Pour the duck or bacon fat into the bottom of an 8" or 9" baking pan. Put the legs on top, rolling them around in the fat to get them coated. Sprinkle with salt, cover the pan with foil, and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the foil from the pan. Pour out a tablespoon of fat and reserve; prick the duck skin all over with the point of a knife to help render out more fat. Add the Chinese sausages to the pan. Turn oven temperature up to 350° and put duck and sausages into the oven. Bake for an additional 15 minutes.

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the onion and scallions in the reserved tablespoon of duck fat. When they are translucent, stir in the garlic. Add the stock, beans, doubanjian, soy, vinegar, and sugar. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat.

After the duck has been in the oven for the additional 15 minutes, remove sausages and duck from the pan. Pour out the fat and discard (or, reserve for a later use). Cut sausages into thick diagonal slices and stir into the bean mixture. Pour the bean mixture into the pan, then top with the duck legs. Put pan back into the oven and cook for an additional 45 minutes or so. The duck will get crispy and brown, as will the exposed areas of beans. If you want a saucier cassoulet, you can add more chicken stock. Personally, I like the beans on the dry side.

Serve 1 leg per person, with some of the beans. Garnish with cilantro.

Serves 2, with extra beans for lunch.



Posted on Minxeats.com.