Did you know that lamb is one of the healthier red meats? It’s high in B vitamins, zinc and iron and half its fat is unsaturated. Its tenderness also makes it easier for young toddler palates, who tend to be more sensitive to tougher meats. Of course, it is also more expensive, particularly if you’re buying local and/or grass-fed, hormone-free lamb. If you’ve ever noticed, lamb is very popular in Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine, where it’s often cooked as kabobs or in some sort of stew — which is a great way to use a cheaper cut of lamb and stretch it further, especially if you increase the amount of vegetables in the recipe. I recently made this stew, bulked up with carrots and served over basmati and wild rice — it was delicious. You could even make it with leftover leg of lamb from your Passover or Easter meal, if you somehow wound up with too much meat.

Recipe: Lamb and Leek Stew
Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1.5 pound lamb* shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large leek, white and pale green part, thinly sliced
• 3 small carrots, sliced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (zest optional)
• 1 cup vegetable stock

Instructions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat oil in dutch oven on stove over medium high heat. Season lamb meat with salt and pepper and cook until browned, about 5 minutes total. Remove meat to plate and cover to keep warm. Add leek, carrots and onion to pan and cook 5-7 minutes, until onion is soft. Stir in parsley, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, a pinch of salt and ground pepper, and lemon juice (and zest if using). Cook one minute. Return lamb to pan and add stock. Bring to a simmer, then cover and place pan in oven. Cook, covered, for 1 hour. Lamb should be tender and the liquid mostly absorbed. Sprinkle with additional fresh parsley and serve over rice. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

Notes: The original recipe calls for lemon zest. My husband has a weird objection to zest in his meat, so I used juice instead. Use both for a fresh zing that lightens this stew for spring.

* Farm Source(s): lamb from Fields of Athenry (Va.). You can also get excellent lamb from Smith Meadows at the Del Ray Farmers Market and other DC/NoVA markets.

Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, look very similar to ginger root, but when you begin to peel them they offer an intensely concentrated artichoke aroma. Raw, they have the texture of a water chestnut, but taste sweeter and nuttier. They are a member of the tuber farm and are packed with iron and potassium. They aid in digestion and store carbs as inulin, not starch, making them an ideal substitute for potatoes. The farmer suggested roasting them or serving raw in a salad, but I’ve had sunchoke soup on the mind since Ramona’s post in the spring. This simple soup lets their flavor shine. I added mushrooms which added to the earthy flavor, but you can omit them.

Recipe: Creamy Sunchoke Soup
Adapted from Thomas Keller

Ingredients:

• 1 pound sunchokes
• 1 leek, white part and an inch of the green portion, rinsed well
• 1/2 cup maitake mushroom
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• pinch of sea salt
• 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup cream

Instructions: Peel and thinly slice the sunchokes. (They are a little tricky to peel, so go carefully.) Slice the leek cross-wise into thin strips. Coarsely chop the mushrooms. Melt butter in stock pot over medium low heat. Add sunchokes and leeks and cook until they are translucent, about 8 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook 2 minutes more. Season with white pepper and salt, and stir in chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and puree in blender or with stick blender until smooth. (If using hand-held blender, you may wish to strain through a chinois strainer or cheesecloth to remove any extra lumps.) Stir in cream, warm over low heat for two minutes, then remove from heat and serve. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

Farms of Origin: Organic sunchokes and leek, Next Step Produce and maitake from the Mushroom Lady, Dupont Circle Farmers Market. Butter from South Mountain Creamery.