It is the time of year when it is unwise to trust the weather. This is the reason that one always needs to ready with a bright zingy salad or a heavy braise. This is really a dish that is suited to dark winter evenings and not to mild spring twilight.
- Lamb neck fillets (work on about 150-200 gms per person)
- 1 large carrot (cut into chunks)
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 2 celery stalks (cut into small pieces)
- 3 cloves of garlic (roughly chopped)
- 1/3 bottle red wine
- 250 ml lamb stock
- 1 tbsp quince jelly (or redcurrant)
- splash of oil
Heat the oil in a heavy pan with a lid. Put in the carrot, onion, celery and garlic. sweat these down until softened and taking on a little bit of colour. Remove these from the pan and set aside. Pop the pan back on the heat and ad the lamb to brown it all over (get a real crust on them). Add the veg back in and pour over the wine. Make sure it boils to burn off the booze and then add the stock. Cover and put on a low simmer for a couple of hours until the meat is falling apart.
Lift out the meat and set aside somewhere warm. Stain the liquid and return to the pan on the heat, add the jelly (it really is very easy to make) until it is thick and sticky. Serve the meat with the sticky sauce over the top. I served it with cauliflower puree, baton carrots and roasted shallots.
The match
Tap Social Movement are a force for good. They deliberately recruit staff who are leaving the prison system, a group for whom paid work is not only hard to find but their only chance to build a future outside of the criminal justice system. Their beer is also really good.
Inside Out is an Oatmeal Stout, meaning that oats are used as part of the grain bill during brewing. This tends to add body and also makes the head nice and creamy. This is a really lovely beer and hits all the chocolatey and coffee flavours that would be expected. It has a lovely body and matched up to the rich meal very well.
As a note, because I've been asked, I am perfectly comfortable matching a beer to a dish which contains red wine. By the time that the wine has been cooked for 2 hours it has a lovely flavour but it is not in any way like something you would put in a glass.
