Don & Sandy's Lamb Dijon in a Slow Cooker
Don & Sandy Shaffer were among our first Soay meat customers and
bless their hearts, they keep coming back for more each year. Not only are they two of
the best cooks I know, they are experts at coming up with "healthy" versions that taste as
good as the originals. In the long-standing tradition of passing on the gift of good
recipes but noting their provenance, it should be noted that Sandy found this one in our
local paper years ago. The note in her faded newsprint copy credits the old Betty Crocker
Slow Cooker Cookbook as the origin of the recipe, no doubt in a less healthy version.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 Tblsp olive or vegetable oil
- 2 pounds lamb stew meat, or cut up roast
- 6 new potatoes, cubed (about 1 and 1/4 pounds of potatoes, use other firm type if
"new" are not in season)
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard (not boring regular yellow mustard)
- 1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
- 1 Tblsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp chopped fresh, or 1/2 tsp dried, rosemary leaves
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 can (14.5 oz) beef broth, or equal amount of homemade
- 1 package (10 oz) frozen peas, thawed
- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional, for gremolata)
- 1 garlic clove, finely diced (optional, for gremolata)
- 1 tsp grated lemon peel (optional, for gremolata)
Directions
- Mix flour, salt, pepper in plastic bag. Add lamb, shake until well coated. Heat oil
in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook lamb about 20 minutes, stirring
occasionally until brown; drain.**
- Mix lamb and remaining ingredients except peas in a medium or large (3 and 1/2 to 6
quarts) slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours, or until lamb is tender (8 hours should be
plenty).
- Skim fat, then add peas. Cover and cook on high heat 10 minutes or so until the peas
are hot.
- Extra Credit: Gremolata is yummy sprinkled over this lamb dish. Just mix the
parsley, garlic and lemon peel and sprinkle over each serving of lamb
Non Crockpot version:
Brown the lamb in an oven-proof pot, drain off excess fat, put everything in the pot, cover it, cook in a low (225-250F) oven for about 2 hours. Add peas and cook for another 15-20 minutes, until heated through.
Sandy's additional comment:
Don't forget the gremolata -- we loved the contrast of lemon and fresh garlic with the lamb and peas. Not too rich. Using just one pound of lamb meat and halving the amount of flour, salt and pepper coat, but keeping everything else the same, works perfectly for two people. The more meat, the thicker and richer. Suggest adding fresh bread and a salad to accompany.
A note from Priscilla about browning:
For me, the only reason (besides getting really tasty food, of course) to use a Crockpot is simplicity, so I never take the time to brown meat, saute the onions, or any other step besides dumping everything in the pot, especially if the step involves another pan. By the time the meat has been in the CP for 8 hours, I don't think you can tell whether it was originally browned or not. So I skip the first step entirely and omit the flour, salt, pepper, and olive oil at the beginning. About 15 minutes before time to eat, I turn the CP to high and thicken the stew with either a flour roux or a cornstarch paste, and then season to taste. But I wanted you to see Don and Sandy's original so you can decide which way is best for you.
Bon appétit!