Thursday 28 August 2008

Stewed Lamb with Orzo

Tender Stewed Lamb with Orzo

I tend to drop by Sainsbury's near the office to have look for bits and pieces after work. If I go at the right time, there's always a bargain to be had and this time I scored a boned shoulder of lamb. Roasting the meat was out of the question, unless of course I was prepared to eat at midnight so I decided to use my trusty old friend - the pressure cooker. Considered slightly old fashioned, yes, but a wondrous gadget for those short of time and/or patience.

Putting it all together
I seared the meat off in a pan to get some of the fat to drain off the meat. As the meat is browning, sweat some onions and chunks of garlic in the pressure cooker. Add about a teaspoon of tomato paste and cook for a few seconds. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and let it cook down. Once the meat is nicely seared all over, transfer it into the pressure cooker. Drain off the access lamb fat and de-glaze the pan with some white wine. Make sure all the nice crusty bits are scraped up. Pour the liquid from the pan into the pressure cooker and add in a tub of ready made chicken gravy (I bought a 500g tub of ready made poultry gravy). I added some fresh rosemary from my plant and seasoned the dish well just before the lid went on for 40-45 minutes.

Cook some orzo in a separate pot. When the lamb is done (you should be able to cut the meat with a fork), take it out of the pressure cooker and mix the orzo into the gravy. Bring the pot to a boil if the gravy is too watery. Ladle the orzo into a bowl and top with chunks of meat.

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