Easy lamb stew

I want to be your go to place for family food. As a busy mum of two (what mum isn’t busy – maybe I should stop saying busy mum of two, as the busy bit is rather obvious), I love finding great food blogs to inspire me in the kitchen – particularly so if they are focused on family food. I genuinely look through them as a mum, not a competitive blogger – well I suppose I do admire photography or whatever. But more so, I think, I wonder if my readers know about this blog. So, with this in mind I am starting a regular series called OFF – Other Family Foodies. I will tag them all as this so that when you feel you want to discover a new family food blogger you’ll know where to look.

This week I bring you Modern Family Food, a gorgeous, stylish blog by mum of two Emily Kerrigan. Emily is a highly experienced food writer and has some whoppingly impressive titles under her (probably) tasteful brown leather belt. The ethos behind Modern Family Food is about getting kids involved. As someone who believes in this but perhaps could do better, I read her approach with interest. What I love about her blog is it’s simple and stylish presentation, her down to earth, classic  – and easy – recipes. I think this fish finger sarnie recipe looks fab for one to make with the kids, and also these pure fruit ice lollies would go down a storm here. I will most definitely be trying both of them. And I’m not just saying that. I think the appeal of her blog is that they are recipes that you want to actually make. Something I really try to achieve with Well Worn Whisk.

The recipe that stood out for me to make in this instance was the Easy lamb stew. It’s getting colder, we’ve started having fires at night… it just makes sense. Mine was slightly different, as recipes often are when you make them yourself. It was blooming simple, I can tell you – just fab for a Sunday when you want comfort but not the absolute faff of a big roast. I chucked it together in minutes and it slow cooked for about two hours whilst we watched a movie with the fire on. We even ate it with leftover reheated mash so it really was the easiest meal I’d made all week. Kids loved it too – the tomatoey and meaty tastiness reminded Arthur of spag bol he said?! That’s serious praise, coming from him.

You could try this with beef – shin would be perfect. Also, you could do this in the slow cooker – I would take it to the stage where you pop in oven, cook on Low for 7 hours, Medium for 5.

Thank you Emily for giving permission for me to share this gorgeous recipe! Follow Emily on Instagram

Serves: 4-6

Takes: 20 minutes prep + 1.5-2 hours cooking

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery sticks, diced
• About 600g lamb (we used shoulder, cubed)
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 500ml veg stock (beef is good too)
• 1 tin (440ml) of tomatoes
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Add oil to a hot pan – a heavy bottom casserole is perfect. Soften onions, carrots, celery (and/or leek), along with garlic too for about 15 minutes.
3. Now for the meat – let it get a little colour on and seal.
4. Add the herbs, and the stock, as well as the tinned tommies. Don’t season yet – commercial stock (if that’s what you used) is salty so wait until the end.
5. Pop in the oven and allow to slow cook. Give t a stir half way through and add a little water if it’s sticking.
6. Serve with mash – ideally ready made from a recipe earlier in the week (TIP: always make twice the amount of mash as it’s a bit of a palava – well, I think it is).