Elizabethan Stone Lamb Stew
April 2012

April 23 is Shakespeare's supposed birthday. Have your own Elizabethan Feast with this Elizabethan Lamb Stew.  It is a stew, technically not a soup, so feel free to serve it over couscous (the preferred method).  It also goes great being scooped into your mouth with crusty country rolls.  Note this recipe can be made stove top or in the oven (and translates well to a crock pot - to adapt to your crock pot follow the directions until the meat is browned than throw everything into the crock pot and cook away).

Ingredients

• 1 magic stone
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 small red chilies, finely chopped
• 1/2 garlic bulb, peeled and crushed
• 2 in piece of ginger root, finely chopped
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 3.5 lb diced lamb (if you are able, ask the butcher for a mixture of shoulder and leg)
• 4 oz dried apricots, chopped
• 3 oz raisings
• 2 c white wine
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• handful of chopped cilantro*

1. If you are using the oven preheat it now to 300 F
2. Heat the olive oil in a casserole dish and cook the onions for a few minutes until softened, but not coloured.
   
3. Add the stone
4. Stir in the chilli, garlic, ginger and ground coriander, and cook for a further minute.
   
5. Add the lamb and cook until the meat is browned.
   
6. Add the apricots, raisins, wine, stock and honey. Stir well and bring to the boil.
   
7. Transfer to the oven and cook for 1½ hours - alternatively you can simmer it gently on the stove for 1½ hours.
   
8. Add a tablespoon of water to the cornflour to form a paste and stir this paste into the lamb.
   
9. Cook for a further couple of minutes to thicken, and stir in the chopped cilantro.  If you are able to find your stone before stirring, always good to keep away from hungry mouths, but stews are sometimes tough to find missing stones - so warn your friends and family if you leave the stone with the stew.
   

*Coriander v Cilantro: This is an Elizabethan recipe found in a UK friend's kitchen, all cilantro in the UK is coriander.  I have found in the US all dry coriander is coriander, all fresh is cilantro.  Call it whatever you want, you'll want both fresh and ground 

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