Weather or not

A comforting lamb stew

“You will never get out of pot or pan anything fundamentally better than what went into it. Cooking is not alchemy; there is no magic in the pot.” - Martha McCulloch-Williams, Dishes & Beverages of The Old South, 1913

The wintry cold weather sweeps in, a Siberian caress, an Arctic clutch. I have lived in Chinon for 8 years, arriving mid-winter, and the weather has been easily gauged, summer and winter, rain and sun. As a hotel owner, I remember clearly which coats I’ve worn each year as I trudged into town to run errands, whether it snowed or not, how many days of canicule, heatwave, we had, how many of rain. As a hotel owner, everything is seen through our concern for our clients and the smooth running of the hotel: what months were we able to use the terraces for breakfast: did we start serving outside in April? May? Or June when an average morning could count as high as 45 or 50 people to seat and serve. Did it rain over Easter weekend or through the month of October when the hotel was full? How many days was it too hot to cycle yet cycle they did and we would worry as we waited for them to arrive in the 3-digit heat? How many nights was it too hot for the clients to sleep and we would feel their wrath in the morning as if we ourselves created the torrid sultriness?

Weather is easy to remember when one owns and runs a hotel and I know that last summer, the summer of 2022, was hotter than it had ever been before and for much longer and greater intervals, so much longer and greater than even the summer before that one. 

And this winter has been cold, very cold. Days absolutely glacial. And I know that friends on the other side of the Atlantic have been suffering even worse cold and torrential rains as well. 

And so I knew that we all needed a hot stew. Lamb, my favorite. A little curry. It’s all good.

News is sometimes awfully banal from the hotel. Aside from the weather, I have been spending long hours stretched out uncomfortably on the sofa impatiently waiting for my ankle to heal. It is low season so breakfasts are much easier, with only a half dozen or so most mornings, slight bump on the weekends, until we shut down again for a 2-week vacation end of the week. I hobble downstairs, set up breakfast, serve the early bird business clients, and then leave Nathalie to finish as I head back up, take off my shoes, and lie down again, foot up. It has pushed me to work on my Substack and my book projects; if not I would be bored out of my skull. And I need my foot to heal so I can spend a few days in Paris mid-February where I’ll be meeting up with friends to shop at 2 of my favorite places, Dehillerin and G. Detou, and eat at my new favorite Parisian restaurant, Milagro. 

Just a bit of good news… we will soon be starting up releasing and taping new episodes of my podcast Stir Crazy with some extraordinary and exceptional guests. If you haven’t subscribed, do so now!

Stir Crazy with Jamie Schler podcast on Apple Podcasts for the audio interviews.

Stir Crazy YouTube channel for the videos of me baking or cooking with my guests.

Lamb Stew with Curry - Sauté de mouton au curry

Serves 4

Stewing lamb (shoulder, neck, chops, etc) for 4 – about 800 g to 1 kg – in large chunks

Margarine or butter + olive oil for sautéing

About 2 tablespoons flour

1 large yellow or white onion, peeled, trimmed, and coarsely chopped

½ red or green pepper, cleaned, trimmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped, more if you like

1/3 to ½ green chili (mild or hot, as you like), trimmed, seeds removed, and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed but left whole

1 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons good curry powder

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

1 medium long or round zucchini, peeled and cubed or 2 carrots, trimmed, peeled, cut into thick sticks

2 tablespoons golden raisins

Water

Heat about a tablespoon each of margarine and olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven until hot and steaming. Add the chunks of lamb and brown on all sides. Remove the lamb from the pot onto a plate when browned.

Put more margarine and olive oil in the hot pot and add the chopped onion, red or green pepper, the chili, and the garlic clove and sautée, stirring often, until the onion is tender, transparent, and beginning to color around the edges. Remove and discard the clove of garlic. Sprinkle the flour across the ingredients and, stirring continuously, cook for another 2 – 3 minutes until it no longer smells like flour. Deglaze with a bit of water (melt and scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon) and then stir in the tomato paste, the curry powder, the bay leaf, salt and pepper. Add the lamb back to the pot and add water just to cover. Bring to the boil then lower the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

At the end of 30 minutes, add the cubed zucchini and the raisins, more water if needed, cover the pot again and cook for another 45 minutes to an hour or until the meat is fork tender.

When the lamb is tender, check the sauce: taste and adjust the seasonings, adding more salt or pepper as needed; if the sauce is too watery, simply allow to simmer uncovered for a bit until it thickens.

Serve hot over rice or couscous grains.

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