Soupy Sundays: Jamie's Lamb Stew

Now I understand that a stew isn't the same thing as a soup, but for this week it was close enough.  Since I was working last weekend and didn't have much time for cooking, I wanted to make a low-maintenance comfort food dinner to enjoy on Sunday night.  Jamie Oliver's Lamb Stew Recipe in his Food Revolution cookbook sounded perfect, so I had to give it a try.

I realize that I tend to post mostly vegetarian recipes, but I do eat meat on occasion, and I'm a big fan of lamb. One of my favorite dishes growing up was the lamb and rice dish with tomato sauce (Arnaki Pilafi) at Pegasus in Detroit's Greektown.  The meat was always really tender and flavorful, and I've had a good impression of lamb ever since.

I'm also a huge fan of Jamie Oliver and have been slowly but surely working my way through the cookbook.  This recipe is pretty simple, and Jamie provides three other options besides the lamb to make a similar stew using chicken, beef, or pork.  I love that he doesn't tell you to brown the meat first, because that is always my least favorite part about making a stew or roast.  The only change that I made was doubling the amounts of carrots and celery, just because I like to have lots of vegetables in my stew.

I served each portion of stew with a nice piece of bread, though I think that mashed potatoes would have been delicious.

Lamb Stew - Makes about 4-6 servings, depending on the side dishes served
4 stalks celery, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped
4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 pound stewing lamb, diced into about 3/4-inch cubes
1 Tablespoon whole wheat or all-purpose flour
2 cups red wine*
1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes, preferably with no salt added
Kosher salt and ground black pepper

*I used Mediterranean Red by Rene Barbier (sold at Trader Joe's), which is a blend of Tempranillo and Merlot.  You can use your favorite red wine, but make sure that you'd be willing to drink a glass of it.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.


1. Heat a Dutch oven on medium heat.  Add all the vegetables, the olive oil, and the rosemary sprigs to the pan and saute for about 10 minutes.

2. Add the meat and flour and pour in the red wine and canned tomatoes.  Give the whole mixture a good stir, and then season it with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper.

3.  Bring to a boil, put the lid on, and put the Dutch oven in the oven at 350 degrees for a total of 2.5 hours.  (You can also cook this on the stovetop for the same amount of time).  During the last half hour of cooking, remove the lid and add a bit of water if the stew looks a bit dry.

When the stew is done cooking, the meat should be really tender.  Remove the rosemary stalks from the pot (it's ok if the rosemary has fallen off of the stalk into the stew) and taste to see if it needs any additional salt or pepper (I added a few extra grinds of pepper).

Serve with mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, or a great piece of bread to soak up the sauce.

Nutritional facts for one serving, assuming you get 4 total servings: 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 470 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 414 Calories from Fat 108

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 12.0g 19%

Saturated Fat 3.5g 18%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 102mg 34%

Sodium 556mg 23%

Total Carbohydrates 14.9g 5%

Dietary Fiber 3.2g 13%

Sugars 6.3g

Protein 33.3g

Vitamin A 211% • Vitamin C 17% Calcium 8% • Iron 21%