Syrian Lamb with Green Beans

So today's post was supposed to be about the little fish-packets I made last night, but they turned out very meh. And I refuse to post anything less that wonderful on this blog.
So I thought I'd introduce you to a dish I discovered during my semester in Wales a few years ago. You can make it with minimal equipment, and it's absolutely marvelous. Keep a lookout for lamb on sale, and remember that this takes a relatively small amount of meat for a really big flavor. If you live where lamb is cheap, I am wildly jealous. :)

The original recipe was found on Food Network, apparently the work of a lady called Katherine Dickenson

Syrian Lamb with Green Beans

4 to 6 shoulder lamb chops, fat removed and bones in for flavor
OR
2 or 3 lamb shank pieces
3 tablespoons butter
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 bay leaf
1 sweet red pepper--the 'Italian' kind if possible (long and skinny and fabulously sweet)
1 1/2 teaspoon dried whole oregano, crushed between your hands (please, please don't use ancient flavorless oregano that has lived in your cupboard for decades, because you will make me cry)
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, ends snapped off and cut into bite size pieces
2 cans diced tomatoes or a big can of fire roasted whole ones, cut into pieces
Salt and pepper, to taste

Saute your meat in butter until brown on all sides. Saute the onion until translucent. Add garlic, bay leaf, red pepper and seasoning and cook for 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of water and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the green beans and tomatoes. Cover and cook for 1 hour on medium to medium low heat. Check it every now and then to make sure you're not boiling the water away. Unlid and serve!

You could serve this over riced cauliflower or something if you really wanted to, but I prefer eating it as a soup/stew, and don't think it needs a thing. We have used it as both a side and a main dish, and it serves both purposes admirably. You can add more green beans for further tasty servings, but I just don't have a pot that will hold that much comfortably.

You might be able to use lamb ribs and such for this as well, but you'd likely have to cool the finished product and scrape off the fat. It's pretty oily using the original cuts, albeit a delicious lamb fat kind of oily. If you have a problem with that, then cool and skim away!

And come to think of it, I bet that you could dump it in a slow cooker after the initial saute, and waltz away for a few hours. The flavors would have intermingled further, and long low heat makes for more tender lamb.