There's nothing quite like hearty, fall-apart-tender lamb on a chilly evening. For more ideas like this, try one of our 16 essential lamb shank recipes!
Lamb stew with rosemary dumplings
Beautifully tender lamb meat falls off the bone in this rich and hearty lamb stew, which is a fantastic idea for a winter family dinner. Homemade onion and rosemary dumplings give the dish the perfect finish!
- 3 hrs 15 mins cooking
- Serves 4
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Ingredients
- 1 kg lamb forequarter chops
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 large onions, thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, trimmed, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 1 litre beef stock
- 2 tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Onion and rosemary dumplings
- 1 1/2 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
- 75 g butter, chopped
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup milk
Method
- 1Preheat oven to 160°C.
- 2Season lamb. Heat half the oil in a large, heavy-based ovenproof saucepan over high heat, cooking lamb in batches for 5 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan. Add ¼ cup water to same pan, then cook, stirring, lifting any pieces stuck to the bottom of pan. Add remaining oil, onion, garlic and rosemary. Reduce heat to medium, then cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until onion is lightly browned. Remove half the onion mixture. Set aside.
- 3Add carrot and celery to onion in pan, and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until carrot and celery have softened. Add paste, returning lamb to pan with juices. Increase heat to high and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes.
- 4Add stock to pan and bring to the boil. Cover; transfer pan to oven. Cook, stirring twice, for 1 ¾ hours or until meat comes off the bone.
- 5To make the dumplings, sift flour into a large bowl. Season. Rub in butter with fingertips until mix resembles crumbs. Make a well in centre, then stir in combined egg, milk and reserved onion mixture to form a soft dough. Knead on a floured surface. Roll level tablespoons of dough into 16 balls.
- 6Place dumplings on top of stew. Return pan to oven; cook for a further 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of a dumpling.
- 7Serve stew and dumplings topped with parsley.
Notes
Dumpling dough can be prepared ahead and frozen, uncooked, in balls.
