Friday, November 27, 2009

Guest Post: Cocido de Cordero-Spanish Lamb Stew

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I am so excited to have Diana give us a guest post I have been following her blog for a good while now and love it, she's a talented cook, with a focus on Spanish Cuisine, a great Mum and a great Gardner and Guardian of the environment. She is also a great friend, so I will now hand you over to the lovely Diana of A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa

Enjoy.........

Buenos Dias! My name is Diana from A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa. I am so excited to be here at Chow and Chatter and want to thank Rebecca for allowing me to share a bit about who I am and a recipe on her wonderful blog. I have been following Chow and Chatter for some time and enjoy reading so many great posts filled with cultural recipes and always focused on nutrition and eating well!

When Rebecca first asked me to guest post, I knew I wanted to share something special and unique to my Spanish heritage. I also wanted to share with you my passion for our local food movement and buying the best in hormone, antibiotic free meat from family farmers. Putting these two thoughts together, I decided to come up with a delicious Spanish stew using lamb shanks from my local family farmer, Cory's Country Lamb.

This recipe uses many different flavours such as green and red peppers, tomatoes, garlic, red wine, and Spanish paprika. All cooked in different stages and simmered low and slow with the lamb shanks to create a warming Mediterranean stew that will leave you yearning to visit Spain!

As Rebecca knows, I am an urban homesteader. I grow my own vegetables and preserve as much as I can before the snow arrives and the winter is upon us. I freeze most of my homegrown tomatoes and preserve my peppers in a variety of ways, including freezing them whole and freezing them after I've roasted them. I love doing this as I have fresh, local, homegrown tomatoes and peppers to use during the winter resulting in some of the flavours of summer!

frozen_veggies



For this recipe I also used turnips and their greens! Turnip greens are filled with nutrients from vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B6, folate, copper, calcium, and dietary fiber. Many people don't realize the nutrition within the greens and ask their family farmer to discard them, eeek!! Turnip greens are beautiful in stews and soups. I have found that different types of turnips produce different flavors in their greens. Some are more bitter than others. I have been enjoying these fall turnips with the purple tops which produce beautiful greens that are much milder in taste similar to spinach or swiss chard.

I also enjoy eating these turnips as they are great eaten raw in salads. They have a bitter crunch similar to a radish. When cooked down, they lose that bitterness and take on the warming characteristics of a cooked root vegetable.

Now on to the recipe!

Cocido de Cordero
Serves 4

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Ingredients:
  1. 2 lamb shanks
  2. 1 1/4 cups Northern White Beans
  3. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  4. 1 large white onion
  5. 4 garlic cloves, pressed or diced
  6. 4 - 5 large tomatoes, deskinned and sliced
  7. 1 red pepper, diced
  8. 1 green pepper, diced
  9. 4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
  10. 1/2 cup dry red wine, (Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot)
  11. 2 bay leaves
  12. 1 1/2 tsp thyme
  13. 3-4 turnips, diced
  14. 1 cup washed and cut, turnip greens
  15. Kosher/Sea Salt
  16. Pepper
  17. Spanish Smoked Paprika (Pimenton)
  18. Roasted Red Peppers to garnish, preferably homemade
Method:
  1. Soak 1 1/4 cups white beans overnight. Preferably, 24 hours.
  2. The first thing we are going to do is make a sofrito. In a large dutch oven, heat up 3 tbls of olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, red and green peppers. Saute until the onion is transparent and the peppers tender. Add the diced tomatoes and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by about 1/2.
  3. Empty the sauce into a bowl.
  4. Season the lamb shanks with salt, pepper, and Spanish Paprika.
  5. In the dutch oven, add a good drizzle of olive oil and brown the lamb shanks on all sides. For about 8-10 minutes.
  6. Once the lamb shanks are browned, remove and set aside. Add the sauce back into the dutch oven and over medium heat stir into the remaining brown yummy pieces remaining from the lamb shanks.
  7. Add the chicken stock, red wine, bay leaves, thyme, 1 1/2 tsp of Spanish paprika, turnips, and beans. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper.
  8. Add the lamb shanks, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 2 - 3 hours or until the beans are tender and the meat from the lamb shanks are falling off the bone!
  9. 10 minutes before they are finished, add the turnip greens.
  10. Serve and garnish with roasted red peppers
Buen Provecho!!
    I hope you enjoy this recipe and learning a bit about me and my blog. Thanks again Rebecca, for having me! Besitos!!





    31 comments:

    1. This looks so comforting and delicious. Thanks for the tip on freezing veggies; great idea!

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    2. I have some peppers in the fridge that I need to used and this recipe is pure comfort food and lots of goodness. Thanks Diana and Rebecca.

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    3. Diana and Rebecca,

      Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. This look fantastic!

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    4. We love lamb shanks around here. And make them two ways. In a stew (I use wine too, but have never tried turnips) or just baked in the oven with salt and pepper. I like your recipe!
      Never have heard of freezing veggies. Don't they get soggy when they thaw?

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    5. This is a great recipe! and thanks for the info on the turnip greens! I have started using radish greens in my salad and love it, so I am going to give turnip greens a try! Your stew looks delicious

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    6. Oh this is superb! I can tell my little family would love this...loving lamb as it is already and then...oh...white beans! Yes yes yes

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    7. Love this, and I have turnips! Was going to make a stew and of course will have to throw some turkey into the pot, since I have so much of it left...I adore lamb. What a good guest blog, so yummy...

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    8. This looks like such a hearty dish! I've never thought to freeze tomatoes, although I'll try it next season. Thanks for sharing!

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    9. Such incredible pictures and a delicious stew it is...! WOW ~

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    10. Thank you everyone for such sweet comments! And thank you Rebecca for sharing your wonderful blog :)

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    11. Gorgeous post, Diana...did I expect any different!? This dish makes me want to curl up with a good book and a bottle of wine...and my plate of course...yum! :D

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    12. Warm, inviting, healthy and I have most of the ingredients in my fridge. It's a winner.

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    13. I love that you grow your own produce and are for antibiotic and hormone-free meat. I am a huge proponent of sustainability, and it is so refreshing to see it in action! :-)

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    14. Thank you so much Diana for this wonderful post pleased you all enjoyed it as much as me Rebecca

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    15. Really nice for a cold day.. Looks awesome!

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    16. Awesome.Started taking lamb after coming to US, as it is hard to find mutton :-)Lamb with all those veggies make it a perfect meal :-)

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    17. Thanks for introducing us to another great blog!!

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    18. What an incredible stew! It's just loaded with goodies! It's so hearty!

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    19. What a great post with Diane as a guest! She has such an interesting life and worldview! I always enjoy learning more about different cultures and their cuisines! Roz

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    20. I love lamb shanks! I just made an osso bucco on Saturday night but I have a few shanks leftover in the fridge. I may just have to try this one out!

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    21. WOW, looks wonderful - the perfect winter dinner!

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    26. We love lamb shanks around here. And make them two ways. In a stew (I use wine too, but have never tried turnips) or just baked in the oven with salt and pepper. I like your recipe!
      Never have heard of freezing veggies. Don't they get soggy when they thaw?

      ReplyDelete

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