4: Stew, p10

Not the most exciting of recipe titles, 'Stew', but an opportunity to buy meat over the counter for the first time, woohoo! After lurking in the vicinity of the meat counter, and spying nothing labelled 'neck of lamb chops' - only 'neck of lamb fillet', and 'lamb chops' (which I knew were definitely not from the neck region) - I finally gave in and told the chap I wanted 'neck of lamb chops' for a recipe, and was that possible? He said this would definitely be the neck of lamb fillet, which looked rather nice, but we had some discussion over what volume '8 thick ones' entailed... either one fillet chopped into 8 thick medallions, or eight fillets... deciding that the latter would be a huge amount of meat for a meal described as 'enough for 4', I went for the former - even though T didn't think one fillet was enough for two - on the basis that stew is essentially a means of bulking out a relatively small amount of meat :) Have I mentioned what a carnivore my husband is? He's not looking forward to the many vegetarian dishes in the Diaries...

Pot barley was substituted with pearl barley - it's a slippery slope, and I feel bad for making substitutions already... but hey, it's what's a bit of husk between friends?

Only just squeezed the ingredients into my Denby casserole dish, but just about managed, and used the chicken stock I lovingly made with yesterday's roast chicken carcass this morning (tub of picked chicken in fridge waiting for 'chicken broth with noodles, lemon and mint' in a day or two, and maybe 'chicken salad with watercress, almonds and orange' too if there's enough). Brought to the boil on the hob, froth skimmed off, disc of greaseproof paper on top, and then popped in the oven for a couple of hours whilst T's parents visit and take us out for a chinese up the road. It's a hard life...

Recipe says to leave it overnight, skim off the fat, and reheat slowly before serving.

Next day: a success! Definitely enough to feed four, and a lovely thick, meaty stew. Inspite of it's heartiness, it has a surprisingly delicate, slightly sweet, slightly spicy taste, even after spending nearer three hours in the oven as dinner out went on until rather late... And plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow and Thursday, hurrah!