This lamb stew came about because I got a bone-less leg of lamb, and was kind of struggling to figure out what to do with it. You see, if the meat came with the bone, I could make a gorgeous lamb stock, or even a meat pie. And the bone itself would be able to impart a richness from that bone marrow fat. But in this case, it was just a really tough cut of meat that would need a lot of flavor and time to break it down into something tender. And one of the caveats with lamb is the longer you cook it, the gamier it gets. So when it comes to stewing lamb, I prefer to add a lot of spices and aromatics, to break that funkiness up. I grew up eating a lot of stewed lamb; usually we would cook it in fermented bean paste, which has this punchy umami that kind of overtakes any of the flavor in the lamb. In this case, I wanted to focus on more seasonings, so I used dried chilies and spices to flavor the lamb instead. And with any stew, a starch of some kind is more than welcome. Potatoes are my usual go-to, but I needed to use up a pint of yogurt, so I made yogurt dumplings, and stewed those with the lamb to soak up those same flavors, while adding another contrast to the lamb itself! I love the fall and winter as an excuse to eat heavier foods(besides that, I despise the winter for how cold it gets, but the fall is nice if you live on the east coast or somewhere with actual seasons). So it’s basically peak stew season, and I’m definitely going to capitalize on my one to two-pot wonders!

For the lamb stew:
3lb boneless lamb leg
a pinch of salt
2 tbsp canola oil
2 pasilla chilis, seeds removed, toasted, and ground
1 guajillo chili, seeds removed, toasted, and ground
2 white onions, peeled and diced
4 carrots, peeled and diced
5 stalks of celery, diced
8 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp allspice
1 bay leaf
4oz tomato paste
2 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine

Cut the lamb leg into roughly 2 inch by 2 inch pieces and sprinkle with salt. In a large pot, start by searing the lamb in the oil, about 2 minutes per side. Then remove the lamb pieces and start adding in the chilies, onions, carrots, celery, and stir on low heat until tender. Remove the vegetables and add to the pot the garlic, cumin, paprika, oregano, all spice, and bay leaf. Toast the spices while stirring on medium heat for 1 minute, and then add to that the tomato paste. Stir to loosen any of the fond at the bottom of the pot, and then add to the the beef stock and red wine. Add to that the lamb and vegetables and cook on low heat, covered, for 1 hour.

For the yogurt dumplings:
150g Greek yogurt
120g all-purpose flour
50g semolina flour
5g parmesan cheese, grated finely
a pinch of black pepper
a pinch of salt
2g baking powder

In a pot, mix everything together to form a dough. Divide the dough into 20g balls. Boil the balls in heavily salted water for 5 minutes, or until they begin to float. Then add the dumplings to your stew, allowing them to simmer with the meat for another 5 minutes before serving.