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.

Wild Mushroom Ragout

So, I'll admit it, I'm something of a geek. A D&D, Warcraft, DragonCon kind of geek. But that can come in handy every now and then, as well as being darn fun. For example, in the nifty book More Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home, which is a collection of short stories, essays, and fun tidbits from the Dragonlance books, there is a fabulous recipe for Kender Wild Mushroom Ragout. And it has minimally-carby ingredients. I am too lazy at the moment to plug in the numbers, especially since the ingredients can vary so much, but I'm pretty sure it's a normal recipe that's perfect for low carb without any weird substitutions. And I love that!

Kender Wild Mushroom Ragout
1 cup thinly sliced white onions
2 pounds fresh, wild mushrooms
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp fresh chopped thyme
1+1/2 tsp fresh minced rosemary
1/4 cup stock (chicken, mushroom or vegetable)
3 tbsp dry sherry
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp brandy (optional)
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute onions, mushromms and garlic in butter until tender. Add herbs, stock and sherry. Simmer until liquid is reduced by half.
Add cream and simmer until slightly thickened. Add brandy and lemon juice. Simmer 2 more minutes. Add salt, pepper, parsley and serve over Dreamfield noodles, riced cauliflower, or sop up the juices later with an Oopsie (full recipe here, can't find the measurements and stuff on Cleochatra's site!).

Now you can substitute a lot of things in this recipe. We most often use a lot of soaked dried mushrooms, because there just aren't a great deal of fresh wild mushrooms around. However, I'd recommend getting a few cartons of regular white mushrooms, and at least some baby bellas/cremini and shiitake if you can get them. The dried mushrooms have great flavor, but they're pretty tough, so cut them up small if you do use them. And if you can get some other varieties, get them! Even the expensive ones make your dish better in small, affordable portions. I will admit that the best version of this we made was with at least six kinds of fresh mushrooms.

You can also substitute port or sack for the sherry, or dry white wine in a pinch. And although the brandy claims it's optional, don't believe it. It pairs gorgeously with the mushrooms, and it would be a crime to leave it out.

By the way, for any other nerds, geeks, or fans out there, the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms books will cease being published at the end of the year, according to my sources. Buy what you can. Hopefully, more worlds with such wide appeal will spring up in their place.