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The Harvest Lamb Stew recipe below is from Chinook Wines in Prosser, Washington. The winery and vineyards are owned by a husband and wife team, Kay Simon and Clay Mackey. Check out the Chinook Wines website.
Cheers, Kathy
Harvest Lamb Stew
1 lb. lamb (preferably loin), cut into ½ to ¾ inch cubes
2 T canola oil
2 c beef broth (preferably homemade; or Pacific Foods makes a nice alternative)
1 c Chinook Yakima Valley Red
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t dried marjoram, crushed
1 bay leaf
1 T butter
1½ c sliced carrots
1½ c celery cut into ½ inch slices
½ – ¾ c onion, chopped finely
2 c peeled potatoes cut into ½ cubes
½ lb. chanterelle mushrooms, brushed and quartered
½ c sour cream
3 T all-purpose flour (you may substitute a GF blend of 1 ½ T Tapioca Starch and 1 ½ T Potato Starch and a pinch of Xanthan Gum)
2 T Marsala or Dry Amontillado Sherry
Dried thyme (optional)
Half & half (optional)
Directions
- In a large saucepan brown meat 1/3-1/2 lb. at a time in the hot oil, so as to brown, but not steam the lamb. Drain fat; return all meat to pan.
- Add beef broth, wine, garlic, marjoram, bay leaf, pinch of sea salt and a pinch of cracked black pepper.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat to simmer. Cover for 20 minutes or until almost tender.
- Add butter to sauté pan over medium-low heat.*
- Once melted, add carrots, celery and onion (mirepoix) and stir often.
- When the mirepoix is ready (about the same time as the initial stew simmer) stir it into the stew base along with the mushrooms and potatoes.
- Return to a low boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Discard bay leaf.
- Whisk sour cream and flour. Whisk ½ cup of the hot stew base into the sour cream mixture.
- Return to pan; cook and stir until bubbly.
- Add salt, crushed thyme and up to 2 T. Marsala or Amontillado Sherry to taste, and half & half to adjust the creaminess. Cook and stir 1 minute.
* The goal of mirepoix is to meld the flavors of the three ingredients, thus your heat is essential. Too cool and you’ll just poach the vegetables; too hot and you’ll caramelize them. A heavier pan can help moderate the temperature.
Makes 4 main dish serving. Pairs well with Chinook’s Cabernet Franc and a loaf of crusty, fresh-baked bread.
Recipe provided by Chinook Wines in Prosser, Washington
The Deadly Use of the Objective for a Subjective Statement
It didn’t take long for Kathy to criticize me for not saying something to another visitor to a winery tasting room on our recent wineries visits. The other visitor was from Ohio and after discovering we were writers said, “The wines in Ohio aren’t very good.” Normally I would seize the opportunity of a teachable moment and discuss what was said. However we were interviewing the winery visited and not the other wine enthusiast, so I deferred my comments until now.
Kathy and I have tasted wines from 30 Ohio wineries and we only had suspicions from one of those wineries that there may have been faults with all of their wines. The other 29 wineries visited in Ohio were making wines that were not faulted. To say, “The wines in Ohio aren’t very good” is an objective sentence that denounces the Ohio wine industry. This isn’t fair and certainly not valid. On the other hand if the visitor would have stated “I don’t like the wines in Ohio,” I wouldn’t have a problem with a subjective sentence. Wine is a subjective topic and no one has to like a particular wine, or wines from a particular region or even a particular state. Keep opinions subjective. Issues arise when an opinion is stated as a fact. Some wine writers and bloggers are challenged by this when they state as a fact that a wine isn’t good and then do not proceed to back it up with objective reasons.
The vast majority of Ohio wines we tasted were not faulted. Would we purchase some of them? Absolutely! Would we serve Ohio wine to others at a dinner? Absolutely! Did we like every Ohio wine that we tasted? No! If a wine were indeed bad, we would explain what was wrong with it. If it were a case that we didn’t like a wine, we would state that subjectively.
Cheers,
Terry