This Spring lamb and carrot casserole is perfect comfort food as we start to leave the wintry weather behind and look forward to the coming sunshine and the abundance of new season produce.

Early Spring, here in the UK, starts to give glimpses of the warm and sunny weather to come. Plants start to grow, flowers appear and the smell of freshly cut grass is in the air.

Comfort Food

Any complacency we feel that warm weather is here to stay is snatched away with prolonged spells of wintry weather. Icy winds, driving, cold rain and snow interfere with thoughts of barbeques and picnics. There is still a need for comfort food to warm our hearts and fill our bellies.

Spring Lamb and Carrot Casserole

Here we have a recipe that marries the emerging Spring Lamb with the last of the ingredients stored over Winter -much the same as weather!

Try this side dish

This delicious, comforting dish can be served with our IDDSI Level 4 Lyonnaise Potatoes.

Reform Processes: Finely Process and Texturise

If you live in the UK take a look at this informative article from Love British Food on Why We Should Buy British Lamb…

Reform Processes

For this IDDSI Level 4 Casserole we will make the casserole and then apply reform process to the dish as described below:

Cooked Casserole

1. Finely process the cooked casserole so it is completely smooth
2. Texturise the casserole to the correct consistency so that it passes the IDDSI Fork Drip and Spoon Tilt tests

Method

1. Heat the oven to 160C.
2. Fry the lamb in hot oil, in a medium casserole dish, until browned all over, remove from the pan.
3. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and boil rapidly for 2 minutes, remove from the pan.
4. In the same casserole dish fry the onions until caramelized and then add the browned lamb, cubed carrots, beef stock and thyme.
5. Put the lid on the casserole and cook in the oven for 2 to 2.5 hours or until the meat is tender.
6. Add the gravy granules until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and remove the thyme stalk.
7. Finely process the casserole in a blender until completely smooth.
8. Check the consistency using the IDDSI Fork Drip and Spoon Tilt tests and texturise by thickening or thinning as appropriate.
9. Taste season if required