Recipe: Lamb Ragout with Spinach, Chile Pepper and Lentils

Recipe Source: Wise, Victoria Jenayan.  The Armenian Table.  St. Martin's Press, New York, 2004 pp. 144-5.

My husband and I returned from our Thanksgiving visit to my family in Syracuse on Saturday, having had a wonderful time.  We returned to a home where the furnace had apparently malfunctioned.  We were able to re-start it easily, but it takes a good amount of time to heat up a house.  As we huddled under blankets with the dog and cats - yes, in the same place, they were all cold too - I flipped through some books trying to determine what we would eat for our Sunday dinner.  We knew we wanted stew, as most people want stew when they can't feel their feet, but we weren't sure what kind.  I selected a few that looked tasty, and then I asked my husband to choose between them.  He chose this one without actually knowing what a ragout was.

I did make a few changes, but not too many as I was feeling singularly uninspired.  I'm pretty sure that the chile pepper I bought was an Anaheim as required in the recipe, but Stop and Shop saw no need to label the different chile peppers and it's a pepper I rarely use, so I can't say for sure.  (I won't go into why I was in Stop and Shop; it was a very long day.)  I couldn't find the green lentils required by the recipe at Stop and Shop either.  In fact, I couldn't find any lentils at all, although lentil soup in a can was plentiful.  (Why would you want to cook your own lentils, after all?  So much easier to let factories do it for you.)  Fortunately, I had red lentils in quantity at home.  Likewise, I was unable to find bunches of fresh spinach in the produce section, but they had salad spinach in a bag so I used that.  I also forgot the lemon juice at the end, which would have brightened up the dish significantly.  My only excuse is that Stop and Shop ate my brain.  At any rate, the dish was still tasty and very, very filling.  It didn't have as much sauce as we kind of expected, but that didn't really inhibit our enjoyment.   

Ragout of Lamb with Spinach, Chile Pepper and Lentils (serves 4; approx. $3.28/serving)

2 tablespoons butter

2 pounds bone-in lamb stew meat.  The bone-in part is very important; don't substitute boneless!

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

1 onion, finely chopped

1 Anaheim chile pepper, seeded and chopped

2 cups water

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup red lentils

1 bag (9 oz) spinach, roughly chopped

Equipment:

• Large saute pan or pot with lid

1. Melt the butter in the pot over medium-high heat.
2. Sprinkle the lamb with salt and pepper. 
3. Brown the lamb in the butter in uncrowded batches. 
4. Transfer the lamb to a plate with tongs, leaving the rendered fat and juices in the pan.
5. Add the onion and chile pepper to the pot.  Cook until the onion is wilted, about 2 minutes.
6. Increase the heat to high and add the water and tomato paste. 
7. Stir and bring to a boil.
8. Return the lamb to the pot with the juices, cover, and cook at a brisk simmer for 1 hour.
9. Add the lentils to the pot.  Stir to mix.
10. Add the spinach to the pot.  Do not stir.
11. Cover and continue simmering about 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. 
12. Remove from heat and let rest 15 minutes.
13. Reheat over medium heat and serve.