One of the best book series I've read lately is Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy. Not only is it my usual genre (Young Adult Fantasy/Fiction), but it combines a fast-packed action plot with scads of Roman History references. And being a Classics major, I couldn't help but devour it voraciously.
Speaking of devouring voraciously, one of the meals alluded to in the book is a Lamb Stew with Dried Plums and Honey. Now, I won't lie - I had to google extensively to find out that dried prunes ARE in fact dried plums. All prunes are plums; not all plums are prunes. But after doing that, I cobbled together a few recipes of Moroccan Tagines and Kormas and Mediterranean stews to get MY version of Katniss' favourite Capitol dish. Here's how she describes it:
"The stew's made with tender chunks of lamb and dried plums today. Perfect on the bed of wild rice."
Not too much to go on, but enough to inspire a creative response. Here's my version:
Katniss' Lamb Stew with Dried Prunes
2 tbsp. butter
1 1/2 lb. (approx .650kg) of stewing lamb (I used fresh Ontario lamb - yay local!) cut into bite-sized pieces
2 medium sized cooking onions, chopped
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. garam masala
1 pinch saffron (because I'm posh that way. And I have an in in Spain.)
1 1/2 to 2 cups stock, chicken or beef (I used homemade beef marrowbone stock)
1 big handful dried prunes/plums, cut into chunks (I say about half an inch squared, at most)
1 tbsp honey
salt to taste
Served on:
1 cup wild rice
1 cup brown basmati
2 cloves garlic
Set your oven at 350F. Then melt a tbsp. of the butter in a bigass saucepan. Get it up to medium-high/high heat to brown the lamb. Once lamb is browned, remove and pop into crockery - a tagine, a stoneware crock, something that'll go in the oven to slow-cook and not melt or burn you. When the pan's empty and medium-high hot again, throw the onions in. Toss them until translucent, then throw your spices in to get all fragrant - cinnamon, garam masala, saffron. Throw in the other tbsp. of butter if the pan's low on liquid. Once the onions start to golden and the scents are definitely flavouring the air, throw that mix in the crockery with your lamb.
Your pan is now probably covered with tasty brown goodness stuck to the bottom of the pan. To not waste this flavour, I throw some stock in here and dissolve it all up. Throw that stock and whatever else is needed to cover your lamb and onions in the crockery. Put the top on and pop it in the oven for 1 1/2 hours (90 min.). The trick to 'tender lamb' is cooking it a LONG time and making sure it's covered in liquid while it cooks; so once the time's up, check the liquid level, pop in the prunes and stick it in the oven AGAIN for another 3/4 of an hour (45 min.). You can put the rice on at this point too, as it doesn't take more than 45 min. I just cook it in the rice cooker, with the garlic clove peeled, but whole and squashed.
I like adding the salt and honey at the end, because getting that sweet/salty balance is tricky. But make sure you let it cool quite a bit before sampling - believe me when I say OW. Mouth burns when stew is right out of oven. If it's too liquidy, you can reduce it simply by taking the cover off and boiling it down on the element.
Serve over the cooked rice mix, and enjoy!
(Picture is on its way; the stew's currently in the oven)
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