Light lamb stew tides us over until spring
As much as we’d like to dream of spring with the taste of warm weather we’ve had, Wisconsinites are well-tuned to the tricks of Mother Nature and the inevitable burst of freezing temps or March snowflakes — sometimes pushing into April.
Ah, well … what can you do? Nothing, except have one more hearty stew up your cook’s sleeve to prepare for friends and family.
A lamb stew recipe a friend served years ago seems like the perfect March entrée, rich and tasty, but lighter than beef stew. Delicately flavored with lemon, tomato and kalamata olives, the dish also calls for saffron, which adds a bit of the grassy spring essence perfect for the season.
With Mediterranean ingredients like cumin, raisins and pine nuts, this lamb stew is more Greek than the Irish version, which generally includes potatoes, carrots, turnips and peas. My friend who originally served this recipe is Greek. I was never a huge lamb fan before, but this delicious recipe changed my mind.
To serve alongside the stew, verdant tender broccolini (baby broccoli) is one of my favorite veggies — I like it better than broccoli. Surprisingly, I found out that it’s also called Asparation (a strange derivative of asparagus, whose texture it somewhat resembles) and that it’s only 20 years old.
Developed by a Japanese seed company in California, it’s a cross between traditional broccoli and Chinese broccoli — kai lan or gai lan. The long thin stems and smaller florets have just a tweak of bitter taste balanced nicely by a little sweetness. The color holds up well while roasting or sautéing.
And various ingredients enhance the taste — from simple lemon and garlic, to flavored olive oils, vinegars, onion and spices. But go easy on the additions so you don’t overpower an already tangy cruciferous vegetable.
I’ll hazard a guess that most home (and professional) cooks have a treasured recipe they will not share with anyone … and if they don’t, they know cooks who do. The secret recipe for a certain dessert cookie was the subject of a search I undertook for literally a few years.
The origin of this cookie, believe it or not, was the kitchen of the hospital where my father was a heart surgeon for many years. After eating one of the chewy, buttery, nutty, chocolate-dipped treats a few times, I finally requested the recipe from the chef, but he turned me down!
So I took photos of the cookie, both sides, and then studied them once in a while to figure out how they were made. I saved images and recipes during my search, but I still wasn’t satisfied. Finally, I recently came across what had to be “it,” or the closest I could get. This may seem like a lot of work for just a cookie, but I must say it was worth it! It is so good, it was pronounced “the best cookie you’ve ever made” by a few family members.
At its essence it’s similar to a Florentine but chewier and boasts a thin shortbread crust. The sliced triangles are dipped in chocolate. To add to this already perfect recipe, I sprinkled a few sea salt flakes on the chocolate. They taste amazing either way.
The Mediterranean influence of the stew (and the Florentine dessert) triggered my creative juices for table setting. A smaller Oriental or Persian carpet makes for an exotic and luxurious tablecloth. The saffron I used came from Spain, so I placed a dashing Spanish matador figure I’d bought in Spain years ago on the table.
A few vintage perfume and pharmacy bottles and fresh cut flowers in a mason jar worked great with the scene. If you can find a few throw pillows that evoke similar cultures and regions, better still.
Last but certainly not least, a taste or three of the Italian liqueur Limóncello will complement the shortbread Florentines — a refreshing dessert drink to top off your winter-to-spring gathering. Amy DeWall Dadmun is a Milwaukee area food and garden writer. Email her at amydadmun@gmail.com.