As you may remember, I attended another cooking class at Voila! with my tried-and-true cooking instructor Nadia and everything she made was LAMB-i-licious! In fact, it was fall-out-of-my-chair scrumptious.

My husband is literally the happiest man on the planet right now because his mostly-vegetarian wife has finally conspired to cook luscious, tender lamb at home. He used to bug me constantly, begging me to cook meat for him at home. I think he’d finally given up all hope several years ago.

But today, we visited three different grocery stores (Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Jimbo’s) for ingredients and then we came home and cooked together in the kitchen, creating a rich and spicy lamb stew a la Nadia.

It turned out that we didn’t even need to go to Whole Foods because when we asked the butchers there to cube and trim the fat from 3 pounds of leg of lamb, they pointed us to the pre-packaged lamb which Nadia explicitly told me to avoid. We tried to explain to the WF butchers that we’d prefer them to trim it up for us fresh and they pretty much told us that it would take too long and they wouldn’t do it. Hhmmm… great customer service, Whole Paycheck!

So we hit our third and final store - Jimbo’s in Del Mar. There, we met with pleasant and bend-over-backwards service from the butcher counter and we gladly handed over our credit card to that fine establishment. I know some people prefer the meat selection at Jimbo’s over that at Whole Foods. Well, I’d like to announce that Jimbo’s will be getting my meat money from here on out. Thank you, Jimbo’s!

A good two hours after we started the stew, it was ready and tender and just what we wanted. We followed Nadia’s recipe to the letter, but of course we have some notes and changes for next time so I will be sharing our modified version below.

The ginger and cayenne give a nice kick to the stew and the tumeric gives a rich Indian note to flavor mix. My husband Daniel hates cooked carrots, but even he admitted that the carrots gave a nice sweetness to the spiciness of the dish. We’re artichoke-enthusiasts so next time we’ll be doubling that amount and maybe using water-packed canned instead of Trader Joe’s frozen.

Oh, and Daniel is a true meat-and-potatoes guy so he wants to add potatoes next time.

Call me spoiled, but I’m attending another cooking class with Nadia tonight (titled “A Cruise to Morocco, Greece, and Spain”) and she’ll be teaching us a more Moroccan version of this lamb stew that includes dates, apples, and apricots. I can’t wait to compare!

Lamb Stew with Artichokes and Baby Carrots
Based on a recipe by Nadia Frigeri
Serves approximately 6 to 8

3 to 3 1/2 pounds of boneless leg of lamb, cut into 1.5-inch chunks and trimmed of fat
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil OR 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 medium-large yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
2 t salt
1 t tumeric
1 t ground ginger
1/2 t cayenne pepper
2 cups chicken broth or water
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 to 1 cup pitted and chopped Kalamata olives (can be found jarred at Trader Joe’s)
12-24 ounces quartered artichoke hearts (frozen at TJ’s or packed in water and canned)
8-16 ounces baby carrots, blanched for 5 minutes in a separate pot

1. Place the meat in a large pot or tagine with the oil or butter, chopped onions, garlic, salt, tumeric, ginger, and cayenne. Toss to coat evenly and saute until meat is brown and onions are transparent.

2. Add the broth and bring mixture to a simmer and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 90 minutes, turning the meat often in the sauce and adding liquid whenever necessary.

3. Add the cilantro, artichokes, carrots, olivess and continue the cooking for 10 minutes longer or until meat is tender and the sauce is reduced to a thick gravy.