Lamb navarin

This beautiful winter stew from Normandy combines lamb, turnips (navets), carrots and potatoes. Chef Philippe Mouchel uses lamb shoulder and ribs cut into large pieces, but the recipe also works well with lamb neck. Philippe likes to serve it with celeriac puree and believes cooking the celeriac in milk helps to retain its lovely pale colour.

• serves

  8–10

• prep

  40 minutes

• cook

  1:50 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 100 ml vegetable oil 
• 150 g unsalted butter 
• 1 kg boned lamb shoulder, cut into 5 cm cubes 
• 1 kg forequarter lamb racks, cut between every second rib 
• 200 g onions, diced 
• 200 g carrots, diced 
• 1 tbsp plain flour 
• 250 ml dry white wine 
• 4 tomatoes, diced 
• 1 turnip, peeled and diced 
• 1 rosemary sprig
• 1 thyme sprig
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• chicken stock or water 
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 
• 250 g small pickling onions or French shallots, trimmed and peeled 
• 1 tsp sugar 
• 1 kg kipfler potatoes
• 300 g baby carrots with some green stem remaining if desired, peeled
• 300 g baby turnips with some green stem remaining if desired, peeled
• ½ cup peas

Celeriac Puree

• 1 kg celeriac, peeled and cut into chunks 
• 500 ml milk
• sea salt 
• 200 g unsalted butter, diced 
• freshly ground black pepper 
• grated truffle (optional)

Instructions

Heat the oil with a large knob of the butter in a heavy-based pot over medium-high heat. Add the lamb pieces and cook until browned all over. Remove the lamb to a plate.

Add the diced onion and carrot and a little more butter to the pot and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring well, until softened. Drain off the excess fat if there now seems to be too much, then stir in the flour and cooking for another minute or so. Return the lamb to the pot and pour in the wine. Simmer until slightly reduced, then add the tomato, diced turnip, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and garlic, and enough chicken stock or water to come up to the level of the lamb. Season with salt and pepper, cover with a lid and simmer for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and add the pickling onions or shallots, the sugar and some salt. Cook, stirring, until lightly browned, then add a little chicken stock or water and bring to the boil. Cook over low heat until soft.

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add the potatoes. Boil for 5 minutes, then drain.

Ladle the lamb from the pot, then strain the sauce through a fine sieve. Return the sauce to the pot along with the pieces of lamb and the whole potatoes. Cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.

To make the celeriac puree, put the celeriac in a saucepan with the milk, some salt and enough water to just cover. Boil until soft, then drain. Return to the pan and mash, adding the butter piece by piece. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir through some grated truffle if desired. Keep warm.

After the potatoes have been simmering with the lamb for 15 minutes, add the pickling onions or shallots, and the baby carrots and turnips and continue to simmer until tender. Add the peas for the last 10 minutes.

Serve the lamb, vegetables and sauce with the celeriac puree.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.