Lamb stew with mushrooms and potatoes
( Agnello con funghi e patate )

Lamb-mushroom-and-potato stew recipe

Preparation and cooking

• - Cut the lamb into large pieces and remove its visible fat.
• - Wash the lamb pieces and pat dry with absorbent kitchen paper.
• - Put the olive oil, onion and bay leaf in a large saucepan.
• - Add the lamb pieces too.
• - Brown all over on medium heat.
• - Pour in the wine.
• - Let it partially evaporate for some minutes, turning the meat now and then.
• - Add the pureed tomatoes diluted in a glass of warm water.
• - Continue cooking on low heat, half-covered, stirring now and then.
• - After ten minutes peel and cube the potatoes.
• - Add the potatoes to the lamb.
• - Season to taste with salt and stir.
• - Clean the mushrooms removing any lumps of earth and other impurities with the tip of a knife blade.
  Brush off grit and dirt with a toothbrush. Do not rinse them with running water; you could loose their delicate taste! Moisten some absorbent kitchen paper and clean them accurately. Slide them lengthways.
• - Add the mushrooms to the meat after 40 minutes of cooking together with estragon and marjoram.
• - Continue cooking on low heat, half-covered, stirring now and then, until the meat is tender and the cooking juice is well reduced.
• - Add other warm water only if necessary.

Just before serving

• - A minute before switching off the gas add the parsley and chives. Stir.
• - Let the meat rest few minutes before serving.
• - Serve hot.

Note

Tips

• - You can replace the fresh mushrooms with frozen ones (300g - 1 1/2 ounce). In this case set aside one third of the pureed tomatoes. Dilute this tomato sauce with a spoonful of water, heat and add the mushrooms still frozen. Let them thaw on low heat. Once thawed you have to transfer them in the pot with the meat (about 10 minutes before the end of cooking). If they produce a little water raise the heat slightly.
• - Or you can use 40 grams of dried mushrooms. Soak them half an hour in cold water. Use their soaking water, filtered and heated, to dilute the pureed tomatoes before adding to the lamb. Add the soaked mushrooms to the meat after 30 minutes.

Menu planning

• - If you prepare the lamb with potatoes and mushrooms for a celebration menu we suggest to choose another cut of lamb not to embarass your guests with fork and knife. In this case prefer a leg of lamb and ask your butcher to slice it for you. Another tip: use porcini mushrooms.
• - An Italian menu idea for your celebration in fall? Begin with an assorted antipasto platter, then serve a tasty dish of pumpkin ravioli. Continue with this lamb dish and close with a typical Italian dessert that is castagnaccio. The link to this menu below.
  Buon appetito!

Useful links for this recipe

• - You could be interested in other recipes with mushrooms
• - Want to know more about the two main ingredientss, lamb and mushrooms? follow the links.
• - Finally, here the link to the suggested menu. Italian fall menu with pumpkin, grapes and chestnuts

Healthy eating

• - This lamb with mushrooms and potatoes is a dish rich in protein, very close to the maximum recommended daily intake according to the European guideline daily amounts.
  Total fat doesn't seem very excessive at first sight but you have to know I calculated it considering lamb muscle tissue deprived of visible fat.
  If I consider semi-fat meat (much more plausible hypotheses for the shoulder of lamb) calories rise to 606 and fat to 38.5g
  But if you can not give up the fat of the lamb you have to know the calories will be about 708 calories and total fat 50.5g!
  The choice is all yours at this point!
  My tip is to choose it only for a special occasion.
  Anyway if you want to prepare it for your family you have:
  - to follow strictly my recipe directions and doses
  - to plan very well the other meals of the day. Prefer vegetables, fruit and food source of carbohydrates (total carbohydrates are very low) but in the right quantity. What about a tasty minestrone served on toasted bread for lunch? Remember: the bread portion is 50g (1 3/4 ounce)
  If you make a lot of minestrone for lunch you'll be able to heat it up and serve before your lamb. Its a good idea if you have hungry people at table.
  Remember: you shouldn't eat any bread with potatoes!
  
• - This lamb dish has 8.1g of fiber (daily recommended value is 30g)
• - The recommended portions of meat per week must not be more than 3 to 4, included cuts (not more than one per week). Anyway give preference to poultry.
• - If you want to drink a glass of wine remember to add 80-85 kcal per 100 ml.
• - I remember you my original home recipes can be made without salt.

By Loretta

What's the right wine for " Lamb stew with mushrooms and potatoes "?

Teroldego Rotaliano, a wine from Trentino Alto Adige - Italy, is our favorite wine to match to this lamb with potatoes and mushrooms.