Gigot Chop Lamb Stew (serves 6)

I am reposting my most searched recipe as I have updated it with a little more information on this curious cut of flavorful meat, (as well as tweaking the recipe). Hopefully this will prompt you to try it out now that the weather is getting colder and we are craving more luscious comforting food.

Gigot Chop Lamb Stew

The picture of this dish says it all. Just looking at it makes me want to run to the butcher shop for some luscious Irish lamb chops! I may be bias, but at this moment I have to announce that there is absolutely no better lamb in the world.

Fields and fields of sheep with their lambs. They can be seen everywhere munching down on the famous green grass in Ireland. (Woolly sheep happily grazing in County Wexford)

I grew up eating the best lamb stew in the world and only realized that fact when I moved away and could not find lamb that equalled it anywhere.

The cut of lamb that I prefer for lamb stew is the gigot chop, and if you can find them, you are on your way to making something fabulous.

What is a Gigot Chop?: It is a cut from the leg of an animal (I usually think of lamb but gigot pork is also a common cut). This chop has a small bone in the center helping provide a wonderful sweet flavor to a dish like a stew or any type of slow braise.

If you cannot find gigot chops, a good alternative is a cut from the shoulder.

Yum

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You will need:

3 tbsp extra-virgin or regular olive oil

4 to 6 lamb Gigot chops (if they are large, use 4. If you cannot find gigot chops, use a cut from the shoulder)

coarse sea-salt or kosher salt to season chops (about 2 tsp)

Several grinds of black pepper (optional)

10 small onions, halved

4 medium carrots, cut into thick diagonal slices

4 medium potatoes, washed & quartered

2 parsnips, peeled & thickly sliced

3 or 4 small/medium potatoes, cut into 4 wedges each (I used golden or yellow potatoes as they have a nice creamy sweetness and hold up well to long cooking)

3 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 tsp coarse sea-salt (I use Maldon sea-salt flakes)

several grinds black pepper (optional)

1 cup white wine

4 cups veggie or chicken broth (or 1 good quality bouillon cube & water)

Method:

Preheat oven 450*

1 – Season the chops with salt (and freshly ground pepper if you like), and sear in large saute pan on high heat in olive oil. Make sure to cook in one layer at a time, adding olive oil as you need it. Transfer to plate as you go and set aside.

sear chops

2 – Turn heat down to medium and add the onions and rosemary and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

saute onions and rosemary

3 – Add carrots and parsnips and continue to saute for another 5 or so minutes, letting them take on a little brown color. Add the flour and stir into veggies. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.

add carrots and parsnips

4 – Add the wine and stir to a thick paste. Next, add the broth (or water & bouillon). Turn heat up to high and stir everything together. Let the liquid come to a boil. When it bubbles, turn heat off. Taste the broth and add salt and pepper if it needs it (until you are satisfied)

add liquids, next meat and top with layer of quartered potatoes

5 – Add the chops back to the pot in an even layer (meat will overlap slightly and that’s fine). Next scatter the quartered potatoes on top of the lamb. Cover with a lid.

top with potatoes and cook in hot oven

6 – Place in preheated oven and cook undisturbed for 1 1/4 hours. Remove from oven and leave to cool down and settle for 10 minutes.

serve

Divide chops between six plates or shallow bowls and top with lots of vegetables and broth. You can also serve with other things such as rice, pasta noodles, bread, cooked greens or leafy side salad.

MY MOST SEARCHED WORD: GIGOT! And a new Gigot Chop Stew: Australian Lamb Shoulder Chop Stew (serves 6)

I got a stat report from WordPress (my blog server) at the beginning of this year and it was an interesting read. It was nice to see how over the past several years the visits to my blog have grown by the thousands. However, the most amazing fact to me is how many times a day GIGOT CHOP RECIPE is searched! This dinner was made in Ireland in August 2012 and has been made by someone other than me every day since!

The most in demand recipe on my blog – Gigot Chop Lamb Stew

Gigot is a term I grew up with in Ireland and refers to a cut of meat from the forequarter (shoulder side) of a lamb, but here in the United States the word is pretty much unknown. That does not mean that a gigot doesn’t exist. I have found two explanations for why this chop is called a gigot that I am satisfied with: 1) the word is taken from the french word gigue which means fiddle (fiddle used for gigs) and suggests that the shape of the fiddle is similar to the shape of the leg of a lamb, and 2) it could also have come from the french word giguer which means to hop or jump, which conjures up an image of a little lamb frolicking in a green pasture! Of course this would suggest that the “gigot” comes from leg chops but as far as I know this is not true (at least for big lamb-eating places like Ireland and Australia) – all very confusing indeed!

a peak at the view from The Rock of Dunamace, County Laois, Ireland (these are the kinds of fields Irish sheep graze in!)

The trick now, being in the United States, is where to find a good lamb chop that is the equivalent of the gigot chop? This is easy enough if you have a real honest-to-goodness butcher behind the counter, but sadly these days one is hard-pressed to find someone in the meat department in a supermarket in most places around here who really know their meat. Of course it is possible, but I find for something like this, it best to do your own research so you know exactly what to ask for.

Typical selection of cheese at any supermarket in Ireland

Go into any (almost any anyway!) supermarket in Ireland and there are four things you can count on; great bread, cheese, fish and meat. There is always someone working there who knows  a great deal more than you which helps enormously when deciding on certain cuts of meat or what kinds of fish can stand up to stewing or frying etc?

Woolly sheep happily grazing in County Wexford (as seen from my train window on the way to Dublin)

The supermarkets in Ireland of course have those same aisles of sterile-y packaged meat and fish but there is always a meat or fish counter where someone is working on filleting fish or frenching chops, to answer any questions you might have. The supermarket that is closest to where I live now has a buzzer in the meat section that says “press if you need help” which I have pressed a few times but invariably no one shows up or they think I’m mad to even ask about say grinding some lamb so I can make burgers. This would mess up their pork and beef grinders I’m afraid. Most of the meat comes in prepackaged, so changes are a little difficult. Nowadays this service is only available in more upscale supermarkets which to me is such a strange thing. Why should it be a luxury to ask someone to cut a piece of cheese or butterfly a roast, but that’s the way it is I’m afraid. We are making progress with the “slow movement” and the Farm to Table trend, but while this is a good thing, it also makes ordinary food seem so complicated and exclusive.

Beef also makes a tasty Irish Stew (Ide having a chat after lunch in Tipperary)

Back to my Gigot Chop quest! I decided to make a Gigot Chop stew here in the United States so that at least when this recipe was searched I would have two to choose from; one from Irish Lambs and now one from Lamb I bought the other day in my favorite “upscale” supermarket. I could have gone to a Butcher Shop (now another Trendy way to buy your meat here!) but I wanted to find this elusive piece of meat in a more general location. Most people do their entire shopping in one place so that was where I was determined to find it.

This is the Forequarter of a lamb where the chop for lamb stew typically comes from and where the “gigot” comes from. This diagram comes from a fantastic Australian website; Beef and Lamb.com.Au that you should most certainly put into your favorites if you want to find out more about meat cuts. It even has an app you can download for beef, lamb and goat meat cuts! By the way, they do not call any chop from the forequarter a “gigot chop” so I’m guessing this is strictly a European term.

I’m afraid when I mentioned the word “gigot” to the guy behind the counter he was dumbstruck and headed off to find a guy “that really knew the product” and I could ask him. As helpful as he was, he hadn’t a notion and never heard the word before in his life. Of course this was understandable and after we talked about the cut of meat coming from the shoulder and I was going to stew it, he directed me towards the piece of meat he was sure that if it wasn’t a gigot exactly, it would make a great stew! Well if this was my choice I was going to go with it and see how it fared.

Lamb shoulder-blade chop. This is a lovely looking chop! (there is a small bone but no marrow bone)

The lamb chops he recommended were labeled Lamb Shoulder Arm Chop and Lamb Shoulder Blade Chop, the latter being $1 more per lb. The arm has a little bone with the marrow which seemed more similar to my gigot chops, but the blade had a nice bit of fat going through it so I couldn’t decide. In the end I bought both kinds and would cook them together and see if one ended up tasting better than the other? I thought that at least now there were more choices for anyone who could only find one kind wherever they shopped. I know, this seems all so nit-picky but when I am hellbent on cooking a specific dish I do like to use the right ingredients. So this post is for all those nit-pickers out there like me. And the people who are only interested in the recipe can skip all of this foody-nonsence and go straight to the recipe!

Lamb shoulder-arm chop – also a beautiful looking cut of meat (has a marrow bone and is slightly fattier than the blade chop)

These chops are organic (I figured that would put them in a similar category to the grass-fed lamb that I used for the stew in Ireland) and are actually not from the United States. It is near impossible to find lamb that is from here  unless you seek out a boutique organic farm or specialty butcher shop. These chops are from a country with as strong a lamb tradition as Ireland; Australia.

The most amazing Lamb Stew

It was an amazing stew, and I would go so far as to say that this may even have been a better dish than the one I made in Ireland. It is a different style of Irish Stew in that I didn’t pan sear the meat or sweat the base vegetables. I layered the ingredients into a heavy casserole with a dredge of flour on the meat and a little salt and pepper on the veggies and let the oven do the rest. I did make sure there was also some fresh thyme in the mix as lamb without thyme just wouldn’t be the same!

My lovely layered lamb stew just out of the oven

After an hour in the oven I layered the top with some par-boiled potatoes and put it back into the oven to finish cooking. I used what is traditional, regular white potatoes, but also added some sweet potatoes with them. I had one on hand and I thought the sweetness would pair great with the flavor of the lamb. It was a good decision!

This was one of those dinners where the whole table was in absolute reverie, too busy sopping up sauce and getting the marrow out of bones to even talk. All I could here was the sound of food being lapped up.

The River Barrow (the river flowing through County Carlow where I grew up). Cooking this lamb stew last night brought back some lovely sense memories as the aroma from the oven permeated my kitchen. Yep – now I’m homesick!

So if you are curious about Gigot Chops and think you cannot find them here in the United States (or you are in a place where that’s what they are called and you are still craving a dinner like this!), go out and grab any kind of lamb shoulder chop you can find and you will have the right cut of meat to make this superbly unctuous dinner. This will be a great dish to have in your repertoire to warm cockles and hearts on those long wintry nights in your future.

Also worth mentioning is that this recipe could be made by a 5-year-old  –  super simple!

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“Australian” Lamb Shoulder Chop Stew (serves 6)

You will need:

2 1/4 to 2 1/2lbs Lamb Shoulder Chops (6 in all – blade or arm chops Or gigot chops)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 medium onions (yellow, white or sweet onions)

2 cups baby carrots or 3 carrots peeled and thickly sliced

fresh thyme – about 4 or so individual sprigs (or bunch of little sprigs)

salt and pepper for seasoning

4 med potatoes (white or red skin unpeeled or mix with some yellow or white sweet potatoes  – peel the sweet potatoes) – cut into thick rounds

2 cups (approx) of chicken broth

2 tbs unsalted butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 350*

1 – Place flour on a dinner plate and add several grinds of pepper and 1 teaspoon of salt. Pat the chops with a cloth or paper towel to dry them and dredge in flour. Lay half of the chops in the bottom of a heavy-duty casserole dish. Sprinkle half of the thyme over the meat.

Dredge chops in seasoned flour and layer into casserole dish

2 – Add the onions and carrots in an even layer and add the rest of the fresh thyme leaves. Top with the remaining chops and add the broth. Only add as much as it takes to get to the beginning of the top layer of chops. If 2 cups is too much, then use less, or more as the case may be. Cover tightly with lid and place in oven and cook for 1 hour.

Add layer of veggies and top with remaining cops and add broth

3 – In the meantime, parboil the potatoes by placing in pot, cover with cold water and place on high on stove top. Cover with lid and when the water is boiling, time potatoes for about 5 minutes. Drain gently into a colander and set aside until ready to use.

prep and parboil potatoes

4 – Remove casserole from oven and remove lid. Layer the potatoes on top and dot with the butter. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and return to the oven for about 35 minutes. If the potatoes are cooked but not browned by the end of the cooking time, turn on the broiler and brown the potatoes (looks much better on presentation).

top with potatoes and dot with butter before placing back in oven

Serve into warmed shallow plates and dig in! I had bread and a salad on the table to go with this hearty meal.

Serve in warmed shallow plates or bowls

Juicy Lamb With Herbes de Provence (serves 6)

If you have a stocked pantry and meat in the freezer, then making a dinner like this one requires no thinking or trip to the supermarket. I use fresh herbs in my food as much as possible, however I do keep a few dried varieties on hand for those moments when the cupboard is bare or when I want the intensity that is characteristic of certain dried herbs. My favorite is a mixture called Herbes de Provence and one tablespoon can make a big impact.

Juicy Lamb With Herbes de Provence

Herbes de Provence is a combination of thyme, marjoram, rosemary, basil, fennel, sage and lavender. I think that lavender is one of the key ingredients and gives dishes like the one I made last night a beautiful perfume-y quality that goes so well with strong flavors like lamb.

So if shelf space is meagre in your kitchen, or you are like me and don’t like spending money on a ton of dried herbs that more often than not don’t get used up before they have lost their aroma, stick with the all-in-one Herbes de Provence. It is great in stews, grilled meat, fish and vegetables.

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You will need:

2 -3 tbs olive oil

sea-salt & freshly ground black pepper

6 lamb shoulder loin chops (about 1 lb each)

2 sweet onions, large dice, or 1/2 moon slices

2 ribs celery, including leaves, sliced

2 carrots, peeled & sliced

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 cup tomato puree

6 cups veggie or chicken stock OR 1 good quality bouillon cube & water

1 tbs Herbes de Provence

Method:

Preheat oven 400*

1 – Generously season the lamb with sea-salt and freshly ground black pepper. Put large saute pan on high heat and add 2 tbs of olive oil. When it is very hot, add the chops in an even layer (you will probably need to do this in 2 or 3 batches depending on the size of your pan). Cook on each side until browned, adding more oil as needed. Remove to a heavy casserole or dutch oven.

Sear lamb

2 – Turn heat down to medium and add all of the veggies, as well as the Herbes de Provence. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Saute veggies with seasonings

3 – Add the tomato pure and mix well.

Add tomato puree

4 – Add the stock, or bouillon and water, and turn heat up to high. Bring to a boil.

Add liquid

5 – Add the chops and place in the oven checking after 1 1/4 hours. If the chops are very tender, remove from the oven. If not, return to the oven for another 15 minutes or until done. Let the pan rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Add chops

Serve with whatever you like: rice, mashed potatoes, sautéed greens, salad, bread or pasta.

Cook

Gigot Chop Lamb Stew (serves 6)

Gigot Chop Lamb Stew

The picture of this dish says it all. Just looking at it makes me want to run to the butcher shop for some luscious Irish lamb chops! I may be bias, but at this moment I have to announce that there is absolutely no better lamb in the world.

I took a train trip yesterday and while gazing out the window I passed fields and fields of grazing sheep and lambs. They can be seen everywhere munching down on the famous green grass in Ireland.

I grew up eating the best lamb stew in the world and only realized that fact when I moved away and could not find lamb that equalled it anywhere.

The cut of lamb that I prefer for lamb stew is the gigot chop, and if you can find them, you are on your way to making something fabulous.

What is a Gigot Chop?: It is a chop cut from the leg of an animal (I usually think of lamb but gigot pork is also a common cut). This chop has a small bone in the center helping provide a wonderful sweet flavor to a dish like a stew or any type of slow braise.

If you cannot find gigot chops, a good alternative is a cut from the shoulder.

_______________________________________

You will need:

3 tbs extra-virgin or regular olive oil

4 to 6 lamb Gigot chops (if they are large, use 4. If you cannot find gigot chops, use a cut from the shoulder)

coarse sea-salt or kosher salt to season chops (about 2 tsp)

Several grinds of black pepper (optional)

10 small onions, halved

4 medium carrots, cut into thick diagonal slices

4 medium potatoes, washed & quartered

2 parsnips, peeled & thickly sliced

3 or 4 small/medium potatoes, cut into 4 wedges each (I used golden or yellow potatoes as they have a nice creamy sweetness and hold up well to long cooking)

3 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 tbs all-purpose flour

2 tsps coarse sea-salt (I use Maldon sea-salt flakes)

several grinds black pepper (optional)

1 cup white wine

4 cups veggie or chicken broth (or 1 good quality bouillon cube & water)

Method:

Preheat oven 450*

1 – Season the chops with salt (and freshly ground pepper if you like), and sear in large saute pan on high heat in olive oil. Make sure to cook in one layer at a time, adding olive oil as you need it. Transfer to plate as you go and set aside.

sear chops

2 – Turn heat down to medium and add the onions and rosemary and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

saute onions and rosemary

3 – Add carrots and parsnips and continue to saute for another 5 or so minutes, letting them take on a little brown color. Add the flour and stir into veggies. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.

add carrots and parsnips

4 – Add the wine and stir to a thick paste, then add the broth (or water & bouillon). Turn heat up to high and stir everything together. Let the liquid come to a boil. When it bubbles, turn heat off. Taste the broth and add salt and pepper if it needs it (until you are satisfied)

add liquids, then meat

5 – Add the chops in an even layer (meat will certainly overlap slightly). Next scatter the quartered potatoes on top of the lamb. Cover with a lid.

top with potatoes and cook in hot oven

6 – Place in preheated oven and cook undisturbed for 1 1/4 hours. Remove from oven and leave to cool down and settle for 10 minutes.

serve

Divide chops between six plates or shallow bowls and top with lots of vegetables and broth. You can also serve with other things such as rice, pasta noodles, bread or some greens (either cooked such as wilted spinach or a salad of field greens)

Superb Lamb Stew with Herbs, & Winter-y Veggies (serves 6)

They say that self-praise is no-praise, but I have to pat myself on the back for this gem of a dish (pat, pat)!

Superb Lamb Stew

I wanted to make something splendid. My friend Bird was in from New York, and each day had to be full of fun adventures, and fabulous food each evening.

Sage, Bay leaves & Pearl onion skins (evidence of good food to come)

I took this dinner to my friend Tom’s house, and it became part of an even larger affair, with 4 different kinds of pizzas, cheese plates, and other side dishes too numerous to mention.

I thought after about 2 months of doing this blog, the food would run out. Now I find I cannot keep up with the amount of dishes to be documented and talked about. I will have to leave the pizza for another day, and give it the spot in this diary that it deserves.

Suffice is to say, I waddled home very contentedly.

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You will need: 5 or so tbs extra-virgin olive oil, 2 1/2 lbs stewing lamb, cut into large chunks (you can also buy it pre-cut), 2 tbs freshly chopped sage leaves, 1 large sprig sage (about 10 leaves), 2 tbs freshly chopped tarragon, 2 fresh bay leaves, 1 tsp sea-salt, 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper, 5 cloves garlic, sliced, 1 lb whole white mushrooms, 2 cups pearl onions, (red, white or yellow), 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into large chunks, 2 cups baby carrots, 3 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks, 2 tbs all-purpose flour, 1 good quality bouillon cube ( veggie or chicken), 1 cup red wine, 3 cups water, 3 tbs soy sauce, 4 tbs mirin, 1 tbs sugar

Preheat 450*

1 – Put pot of water on high heat and when it comes to a boil, add the onions. cover and cook for 5 minutes. Drain, and, when cool enough to handle, remove the skins. You do this by cutting the end where it grew from and then squeezing until the onion pops out of the skin.

2 – Put meat into a big bowl and add the salt, pepper, herbs and garlic. Stir together and let sit for 10 minutes, (you can also leave in the fridge for up to 6 hours)

add seasonings to meat

3 – Put big saute pan or heavy casserole on high heat and add half of the oil. When it is slightly smoking, add the meat and sear on both sides until brown. You will need to do this in batches and add more oil as you go. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

sear meat

4 – Turn heat down to medium and add more oil if necessary. Add the mushrooms and onions to the pan and saute for 10 minutes. Add the crumbled bouillon, sage sprig, and flour, and mix into the vegetables. Add the red wine and water and turn heat up. Stir until liquid reaches a simmer and then add the lamb back to the pan.

saute pearl onions and mushrooms

5 – Cover pan and place in preheated oven for 1 1/4 hours. Take out of oven and test meat by piercing with a knife. If it goes through very easily,the meat is cooked.

* while dish is cooking, put the remaining veggies (parsnips, sweet potatoes, & carrots) into a pot with the soy, mirin, sugar and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and simmer gently (with lid) until vegetables are just soft. Drain and set aside until you are ready to add to the finished dish*

add liquids

6 – The moment you take the dish out of the oven, remove the lid and add the cooked root vegetables. Cover and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes to let the veggies warm up.

remove from oven and add cooked wintry veggies

Serve as is, or with mash, rice, pasta, bread or a salad. All I can say is, be prepared to fight over the last scraps in the pan!

Can be serves alone, or, with whatever else you fancy