Lamb

Saturday March 22, 2008

How is it that, with Easter approaching, we continue to find ourselves in a perpetual state of winter? Easter should conjure up a plateful of springy pastels that match the mood brought on by crocuses pushing their way through the ground. Alas, not this year. Not only is Easter unusually early, the snow banks don’t show much sign of shrinking.

Let’s be optimistic. This is your opportunity to embrace the dying days of gooey, slow-cooked comfort food. Don’t succumb completely to thoughts of winter, though. How about a rich, slow-cooked lamb stew? Lamb’s springy, right? A bit of chopping and browning and the rest is up to a low temperature oven while you putter about. With that you could feed a big group coming for a family dinner or hunker down for a quieter evening.

I was thinking the latter on a recent weekend as I stopped in to a favourite vendor at the Kitchener Market clutching my ingredient list for Lamb, Olive and Caramelized Onion Tagine, a recipe I found in Nigella Express. This particular recipe involved an entire bottle of red wine -- part of the appeal, to be sure. Deliciously indulgent.

You'll find Shepherd's Watch Dairy Sheep Farm on the market's upper level every Saturday morning, where they sell locally produced, chemical-free, grass-fed lamb. They also run a booth at the Guelph farmer's market and welcome visitors to their farm site in Arthur (but ask that you call first). Their stand has a smattering of all things sheep-related -- homemade artisan cheeses, yogurt and butter (chemical free) and, of course, a variety of cuts of fresh lamb that are free of hormones, pesticides and injections.

When I last visited, I chose a boneless leg for my tagine and a “mitten kit” – complete with wool and a pattern – as a birthday token for my mom. Shepherd’s Watch sells socks, hats, mitts, blankets and wool, all, of course, made from the fluff of their flocks.

With some warm flatbread on the side, my stew was perfectly rich and just the kind of thing to lull us into a sleepy Sunday evening haze. The lamb was fantastically tender and tasty -- mild in flavour, too. As for the mittens, I’m not sure if they’ve been knit yet but, sadly, I could use them.

So an Easter weekend spent tiptoeing through the tulips is not in the cards this year. Instead, throw another log on the fire, cosy up with a good movie and concoct your own version of a lovely, braised Shepherd’s Watch lamb stew.

Before we know it, we’ll be whining about the heat, shuddering at the thought of turning the oven on.

I know. Hard to imagine.
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