Hogget Stew
Not so pretty, very delicious
This lamb stew is based on a springtime stew from France, but it felt like the perfect thing to serve on a cool autumn Sunday. Growing up we would often have Irish stew at this time of year. I love Irish stew, but a French style navarin has an extra depth of flavour, and our family is not quite as poor as our Irish forebears so I’m grateful to have the luxury of being able to cook with wine instead of water (the latter would still produce a very tasty meal). You could use lamb or mutton if hogget isn’t available, I just happened to have some off-cuts in my freezer and think it brings a great depth of flavour.
Recipe for 8-10 people.
Ingredients
2.5 kg hogget shoulder, cut into 1.5 inch cubes (ish)
Olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 fresh bay leaves
1 star anise
10 anchovy fillets (drained of oil and left whole)
2 tablespoons plain flour
300 ml white wine
600 ml lamb or chicken stock (hot)
8 medium carrots, peeled and cut into oblique chunks
6 small turnips, peeled and cut into wedges
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
200g of cooked haricot beans, I had some leftover coco beans to use. [You could also add some pearl barley, as would be used in an Irish stew. If you’re using barley, add a bit earlier, around stage 5. You may also need more liquid, as the barley will absorb quite a bit]
Fresh herbs (e.g. I used thyme, rosemary, tarragon, and flat leaf parsley), finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Method
Heat olive oil* in a heavy skillet or sauté pan, over a fairly high heat, but not so high the olive oil smokes. Working in batches, season the lamb cubes well with salt, and brown the meat deeply on all sides. Transfer the browned lamb to a large Dutch oven or heavy saucepan as you go.
[*Alternately, if you have enough lamb fat trimmings, you can render the lamb fat, and use that to brown the meat instead of olive oil]
When all the lamb is browned, lower the heat, degrease the pan, add a little bit of olive oil, and sauté off the onions with the anchovy fillets, bay leaves and star anise. Use the liquid of the onion to deglaze the greebled bits and caramelised lamb juices (fond) from the bottom of the pan.
Once the onion has softened, add the flour, and stir with a wooden spoon to combine the onion, flour and fats into a loose crumble sort of texture.
Take the pan off the heat, and deglaze the pan with the white wine. Combine the mixture as much as you can, using a wooden spoon to scrape up as much of the flour as you can. Then put the pan back on the heat, and whilst stirring, slowly add in the stock until you have a relatively smooth, homogeneous gravy/sauce, the texture of cream.
Pour the sauce over the lamb, gently stir to combine evenly, and if needed top up the pan with a bit more wine/water/stock, until the lamb chunks are just about covered with liquid.
Cover the pan with a cartouche, and bring up to a simmer. Once simmering, leave the pan on a very low heat, gently blipping away, not boiling.
After about an hour of simmering, taste the sauce and adjust with extra salt if needed, and add some freshly ground pepper (I used white and black pepper).
Simmer for around 2 more hours, then prepare, and add in the carrots, turnips, and finely chopped garlic.
Continue simmering for around 20-30 minutes until they are cooked and just nicely soft for a stew, not too crunchy.
When the vegetables are finished cooking, add in the haricot beans, stirring them through the sauce, and simmer for another 2-3 minutes until the beans are heated through.
Finish the stew by adjusting the salt/pepper, add some extra acidity if required (a little squeeze of lemon can help lift the sauce), and stir in some finely chopped fresh herbs. Leave the herbs to steep for a few minutes, then serve.
I served this with some boulangère potatoes, and green beans (blanched for a few minutes, and dressed with a vinaigrette of 1T shaoxing wine, 0.5T champagne vinegar, 2t dijon mustard, 1T olive oil, and some salt & pepper). Best served at the table, no need for frou frou plating.
