Roman lamb stew (abbacchio alla cacciatora)

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5 from 4 votes

Roman lamb stew (abbacchio alla cacciatora)

This comforting lamb stew is easy to make, full of flavor and the meat is wonderfully tender.

Prep Time10

Cook Time1 20

Total Time1 30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: approx

Calories: 282kcal

Author: Caroline's Cooking

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Ingredients

2 cloves garlic
1 stem rosemary
2 anchovies see notes
2 tablespoon wine vinegar
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 ¾ lb lamb shoulder diced into bite-sized pieces (see notes)
½ teaspoon salt approx
½ teaspoon pepper approx
1 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoon dry white wine

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Peel the garlic and cut one clove in half and set aside. Roughly chop the other clove.
Remove the leaves from the stem of rosemary and finely chop them. Add the garlic and anchovies to the rosemary and chop them all together until they form a coarse paste. Use the side of your knife to mash the garlic and anchovies a little towards the end, adding a little salt if needed to help them mash.
Place the garlic-rosemary paste in a small bowl and add the vinegar. Mix all together so the paste breaks up in the liquid. Set aside.
Warm the oil in a medium-large Dutch oven or similar pan with a lid over a medium heat. Add the two halves of garlic clove and brown on both sides then remove from the pan.
Increase the heat to medium-high and add the lamb. It can be good to start by adding some, then wait a minute before adding the rest to save the temperature reducing too much. Season the meat with salt and pepper then turn the meat to brown it all over.
Once the meat has browned, sprinkle over the flour and stir to mix through. Try to avoid having any lumps of flour left.
Add the wine to the pan and stir to deglaze any browning from the bottom of the pan. Allow most of the alcohol to evaporate then add the rosemary-vinegar mixture.
Stir through the vinegar mixture then reduce the heat and cover the pan with a lid. Reduce the heat further if needed to have the mixture just gently simmering. Cook for around 1 - 1 ½ hours until the meat is very tender. If needed, top up the liquid a little with some water or stock so it doesn't become dry, but you don't want a very liquid mixture either. Serve the meat with the sauce that has formed.

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Notes

I'd suggest lamb shoulder here, but you could use leg or ready-diced lamb which can be from various parts. If you use a boneless shoulder roast, you probably want to but nearer 2lb/900g or even a little more as there will likely be a reasonable amount of fat you want to trim - the amount above is the fairly well trimmed weight (a little more or less in the end is fine).

Traditionally, this recipe would use salted anchovies, rinsed off before using. If you don't have these, though, anchovies in oil are also fine.

Nutrition