Recipes: Red Wine and Rosemary Stew

This recipe is a ‘pimped’ version of a classic red wine stew.Stews are marvellous things: incredibly easy to make and very kind on the pocket as you can take a cheap cut and make it go a very long way. We recommend using rolled breast, shoulder, or scrag end/neck for this recipe.

If you don’t want to cook with wine, double the stock and add another dollop of redcurrant jelly and a dash of red wine vinegar. Serve with mashed potato, green cabbage or even red cabbage – Delia’s classic is here. Half the amount she suggests for 4-6 people.

Ingredients

650g stewing lamb, chopped into cubes
2 tbsp plain white flour, seasoned
1 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
1 tbsp tomato puree
300ml pint red wine
300ml pint chicken or beef stock
leaves from 2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed (optional)
1 carrot, cut into small cubes
1 onion, cut into small cubes
2 celery sticks, cut into smalls cubes
salt and pepper
soy sauce
1 tbsp of redcurrant jelly (optional)

Gremolata

handful of flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
1 lemon or orange, zested
1 clove of garlic, finely grated (this is traditional for gremolata, but it works without)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. You can also do this in a slow cooker – it’s perfect for slow cooking, 6-8 hours.
Sift the lamb with the flour, salt, pepper and rosemary leaves until each piece is covered.
Heat a large frying pan until very hot. Add the oil and the butter and then the lamb and fry over a high heat, stirring now and then, until the lamb is well browned. Don’t crowd the pan; cook in batches if necessary. Place the lamb inside a large casserole dish or slow cooker.
Add the tomato puree and red wine to the frying pan and bring to the boil, scraping up all the little bits that have stuck to the bottom. Pour this into the casserole dish and add the stock, rosemary, garlic and diced vegetables.
Add the soy sauce, redcurrant jelly, and pepper to taste. This may sound unusual but will give the stew the faintest umami taste, which is very intriguing. It is however optional!
Cover with a lid and cook for 1-1.5 hours. You can also reduce the heat to 160C/320F and cook for 3-4 hours, uncovering the stew for the last 30 minutes. This will make the stew stickier and more melting.
Mix the chopped parsley, orange/lemon zest and garlic together, and scatter a bit over each bowl of stew as you serve, for a fresh zingy contrast to the rich stew.