Man-Can-Nosh: woman-inspired meat & real-ale dishes

You’ll be reminiscing harbourside suppers in no time! Stifado is traditionally cooked with beef and red wine. But I think lamb tastes more Greek. With our much wanted spring on the horizon, coupled with the need for an alternative Sunday lunch pub grub, its a good excuse to absorb the divine sauce. Of all the alcohol I’ve cooked stifado in: red wine, ouzo, metaxa and wheat beer, wheat beer honestly tastes the absolute best! The heaviness of the beer carries the spices really well, and helps tenderise the lamb. As its so simple to cook, you might feel inclined to prep some Greek chips and side salad. Further, unlike whole Sunday roasted meats, which never taste as good frozen and reheated, this does. Just fully defrost then micro in just 4-5 minutes. Serve with a flavoured packet cous-cous like lemon & coriander or mediterranean. The latter just requires you to boil a kettle, pour and let stand for 5 mins.

Spice level: Mild-Medium, Serves: 4-6

1. Put oven on gas mark 5 and prep the following ingredients as you go along for this one.
2. Slice 4 onions into half rings keeping about 1cm thickness and fry in olive oil and a knob of butter on a low heat until start to caramelize (brown), in an ovenproof pan.
3. Add the whole spices to the pan: cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 2-3 teaspoons of minced garlic, 6 black peppercorns, 2 pieces of star anise, 10 grates of nutmeg, 3 bay leaves, 2 teaspoons dried thyme and toss for 1 min, being careful not to burn.
4. Move onions and spices to side of pan and add the lamb and a dash more olive oil.
5. Sear and salt the lamb in the pan on all sides (until you see it just start to brown).
6. I love that you can directly use the piece of meat as it comes in the packet for this: butterflied lamb, diced lamb, half leg of leg or ½ shoulder of lamb.
7. Just be mindful that thicker pieces of meat will likely need slightly longer cooking time, and that whatever piece of lamb you buy, it needs to be able fit in the ovenproof pan with lid closed. Likewise, diced meat will shred sooner. If you like your dish to look like there is lumps of meat left, cook I like Belgians make Flemish carbonnade and cut meat into 3 inch chunks.
8. Likewise, cooking with a 1/2 leg/shoulder will require more sauce to keep the meat moist,s o just double the spices and sauce ingredients and use a deeper/larger ovenproof pan.
9. Add chunky 2cm sliced pieces of 3 chopped carrots and 3 sticks of celery to the pan and stir for a few mins to start to release sugars.
10. Then add the whole bottle or can of your favourite wheat beer to the pan. I used a bottle of Belgian Tarwe bier. Let the alcohol boil off for about 5 mins. Turn up the heat a little to help, and scrape up the brown bits on bottom of the pan so they dissolve in the sauce. Then turn heat down.
11. Stir in a tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 lamb oxo cubes, a dash of red wine or shallot vinegar, 2 tablespoons of paprika, and a good squirt of tomato puree to thicken.
12. Transfer from stove top to oven and slow cook on gas mark 5 (for around 2+ hours) but…
13. Take out the lamb out the oven at 30 min intervals after 1 hour to ensure all the meat remains covered with sauce, as it reduces down, and doesn’t crisp on top.
14. Toss the meat around in the sauce and mix in a little water if necessary to keep all moist. Don’t let the sauce dry out and burn! Test the meat with a fork each time you sauce check.
15. It’s ready when the sauce has thickened down, but is still juicy, and the lamb shreds with a fork. I leave in the whole spices and pick them out as it gets munched.

Greek Olive Oil Chips:

Peel 2-4 maris piper potatoes and slice into approximate 1cm width sticks. Try to make them the same width, so they cook at the same rate. Place in a bowl of heavily salted water, and leave for 1 hour. Drain and wash the spud sticks, then pat very dry with 1, then a 2nd clean tea towel, and then scatter them well on a plate to air dry. You don’t want water near hot oil! Take a wok or deep frying pan and fill with olive oil to around a 1-1.5 inch depth, to cover the spuds as they fry, but not so much to risk a fire. Place oil on a medium-just above medium heat. Turn the temperature down if the olive oil starts smoking at any point. Just immediately prior to placing the spuds in the oil, sprinkle them with salt and fry for around 3/4 minutes, then turn the heat down to just below medium, until they are cooked through and crispy on the outside – around 7-10 minutes in total. Sample 1 or 2 to check! They start to turn crispy before turning brown. I personally like them just a little brown for extra crispiness. Remove from oil with a dry and drain on kitchen paper or cloth. Sprinkle with oregano and Maldon sea salt flakes. Heaven! Let the oil cool, filter through kitchen paper or a cloth, and re-use for future frying by storing in a separate, dry, clean jar with sealed lid.

©21/01/21 Man-Can-Nosh