Estofado de cordero con manzana (Spanish lamb stew with apple)
When I first tasted Spanish food – on a visit to Catalonia – I was surprised it wasn’t as well known or as lauded as Italian food. There are great homely dishes like this one, and also surprising ones, such as black rice.
I know it’s a hassle cutting up your own meat for this, but the packets of cubed leg or shoulder you can buy in the supermarket are chopped so small. You can ask your butcher to do it for you if you prefer, or use an online butcher who sells cubed lamb shoulder.
Overview
Prep time
30 mins
Cook time
2 hrs
Serves
4
Ingredients
1kg lamb shoulder (off the bone), cut into 2.5cm chunks, fat trimmed
1½ tbsp olive oil, or more as needed
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, grated to a purée
2 plum tomatoes, skinned and chopped
125ml white wine
½ stick of cinnamon
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs of rosemary
finely grated zest of ½ orange and juice of 1
500ml lamb or chicken stock
½ tbsp tomato purée
1 large eating apple, peeled, cored and cut into 2-2.5cm chunks
For the picada
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small slice of sourdough, crusts removed
½ tsp fennel seeds
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
zest of ½ orange, removed with a zester
1 tbsp blanched hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
Method
Step 1
Dry the meat with kitchen paper. This ensures the lamb will fry rather than just steam.
Step 2
Heat the oil in a large casserole and brown the lamb in batches, seasoning as you go. You need to get a good colour – it produces a better flavour. Remove each batch to a bowl.
Step 3
If there’s a lot of fat in the pan, pour away all but 2 tbsp. If there’s not very much you might need to add a bit of oil.
Step 4
Sauté the onion over a medium heat until turning golden, then add the garlic. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook until they’ve broken down slightly.
Step 5
Deglaze the pan with the wine, stirring to scrape up all the flavours. Throw in the cinnamon, bay, rosemary, orange zest and juice. Put the meat back in the pan, together with any juices that have seeped out, and add the stock. Stir in the tomato purée and season.
Step 6
Bring to just under the boil then turn back down immediately. Cook on a very low heat for about 2 hours, or until the lamb is tender. Keep the pan covered with a little gap on one side. Gently stir in the apple chunks after an hour.
Step 7
If there is a lot of liquid when there’s 20 minutes of cooking time left, remove the lid. The liquid will reduce as it cooks. Picadas are used as a thickener in Spanish dishes, but you can also use them a bit like the Italians use gremolata, to give a lift of flavour.
Step 8
In a pan, fry the bread in the olive oil. Take off the heat and roughly crush it along with the fennel seeds using a mortar and pestle. Add all the other ingredients and bash everything together. Add a little salt.
Step 9
To finish, sprinkle the picada on top of the lamb before you serve.
