Lamb, Leek and Carrot Stew with Dumplings

A couple of days ago, Steph bought some leek from the supermarket. I have never cooked leek before but I enjoy eating it. So was thinking of what to do with it. Opened my fridge, and was looking at my available ingredients. So I put a few ingredients together to create my Lamb, Leek and Carrot Stew. The dumplings was an add on because there wasn't much carbs in this dish. The first time I had dumplings was in Wigan and I was trying to recreate the taste from memory. In my opinion, it was a nice winter dish since it is sinful and warm.

Ingredients:
Lamb, leek and carrot
4 lamb chops
1 carrot
1 leek
Beef stock
A bottle of beer
Olive oil
Salt, sugar and pepper (adjust to suit your taste)

Dumpling
100g of plain flour
25g of stuffing mix
1 tablespoon of baking powder
Grated cheddar cheese
A pinch of salt
Water
Butter/margarine

How I did it:
1. Season the lamb chops with some salt and leave it in the fridge for an hour. After an hour, pan fry the lamb chops (3-4 minutes on each side). I learn this technique from some cooking program. This apparently seals the juices in the meat before cooking it in the oven. Remove the lamb and let it rest in the baking dish. Drizzle some olive oil over it.

2. Using the juice from the lamb, fry your leek and carrots. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and continue to fry the veg for a good 5 to 8 minutes. Add a little salt, sugar and pepper for taste.



3. The secret ingredient = BEER. I used Kronenberg 1664. It is a French beer and is one of my favourite beer in the UK. The cup beside the beer bottle is the beef stock (they come in cubes) which has been mixed with half a cup of boiling water


4. Place the veg on top of the lamb. Pour in the beef stock and beer and make sure all the veg are covered. Cover the dish with foil and pop it in the oven for an hour at 200 degrees Celsius.


5. Dumplings:
Firstly mix the stuffing mix with some hot water. In a separate bowl, mix the plain flour, salt, baking powder, grated cheese and butter together. Once it looks like crumbles, add a bit of cold water to make it into a dough. Add in your stuffing mix. The dough will get softer after adding in the stuffing because of the water content in the stuffing so don't add too much cold water to your flour mix.

6. After an hour, remove the dish from the oven. Spoon a tablespoon of the dough into the stew. My dumplings were a little too soft (too much water). Pop it back in the oven for another 25-30 mins at 175 degrees Celsius. This time, you don't need the foil.

7. The finish product!









-Adrian