Who doesn’t love a good, warm stew during the winter months? I personally do not get tired of making stews and I could eat them every day during winter. I love the fact that I can use high-quality meat, its fats and delicious root vegetables in the same pot. For now I have used only my slow-cooker and only recently I found out about the benefits of an Instant Pot. I might add that to my kitchen arsenal sometimes soon!

INGREDIENTS

• 500 g lamb meat, cut in chunks for stew
• a little flour, Celtis Sea Salt and 1 teaspoon allspice (freshly ground)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to fry
• 3 onions, finely chopped
• 3-4 carrots
• 3-4 potatoes
• 4 parsnips
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 280 g bacon, fried
• 1 tbsp mint jelly
• fresh mint to garnish (optional)
• mulled wine (Glögg) or a red wine for cooking, 500-700ml

This is a very reduced stew (I like it like this), but if you wish to make it more liquid, consider adding either some beef broth, more wine or water (filtered). I would recommend to avoid water as it becomes too runny.

DIRECTIONS

1. Prepare your root vegetables first by peeling and washing, cutting in chunks.
2. Prepare your lamb meat by mixing it with the flour, salt, allspice and frying it in Extra Virgin Olive Oil until it gets brown.
3. In the same pan, add a little red wine to get the brown fry out of the pan and add onions, fry them until fragrant.
4. Pour in your slow-cooker, meat, onions, root vegetables, add the wine, perhaps a little beef broth and a little extra salt.
5. Plug your slow-cooker and set to high-speed, for 5 hours.
6. When almost ready, when 4 hours have passed, fry the bacon and add it to the stew, add the mint jelly as well and allow to finish cooking.
7. At the end, test for more salt as mulled wine might make the stew too sweet, so adjust on spices. You can garnish with fresh mint leaves upon serving.

We like to enjoy stews by themselves, just like this and a good sourdough bread. The meat should be tender, melting in your mouth, and sauce perfectly reduced to the point it doesn’t resemble a soup but it is still possible to dip fresh bread and enjoy. If you wish, you could add extra mashed potatoes or… switch the potatoes in the recipe to sweet potatoes and add mashed potatoes as garnish. I wouldn’t because then the amount of carbohydrates take over the protein and for me personally, that is not what I am looking for.

Try to always adjust measurements and quantities to your own liking. I oftentimes find myself not measuring anything, so even if I ”promise” a recipe, it’s quite hard as I am not writing down quantities but just adding as I go and see. So you can add more or less root vegetables, more or less wine, more or less salt (if you like it sweeter), etc.

Stews are great food options in winter, the protein, the released gelatine/collagen from slow-cooking, use of anti-inflammatory spices and herbs, using root vegetables that are available in cooler climates in the North and able to regulate our hormonal system. Stews are healing.

Have fun making this with your little one and go outside for a walk in the snow, come back to a fragrant house and a warm meal – it will be appreciated and surely enjoyed.