Yesterday I saw some good-looking lamb forequarter chops at the butchers and asked for four of them. Shoulder chops? he asked. Forequarter chops, I replied. He beetled his young brows.
Why are forequarter chops called shoulder chops these days? Oh well, I wasn’t going to argue. A chop by any name…..
Anyhow, I took the chops home and cooked them up in the crockpot with a few veggies that I had in the basket. Originally I’d planned an old fashioned Irish Stew but, when I found some green beans left in my fridge, I threw those in too. That’s the beauty of the slow cooker, throw anything in.
Ingredients
- 4 – 6 lamb forequarter chops
- 3 onions, sliced
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 swede, peeled and diced
- about a cup full of chopped green beans
- 1 kg potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- generous pinch of mixed herbs
- 1/2 cup plain flour
- salt and pepper
- a little oil for browning the chops
Method
- Turn on the slow cooker to high
- Add the carrots, swede and potatoes to the slow cooker
- Place flour, salt and pepper in a bag with the lamb chops and shake till coated.
- Using a little oil, sear the chops in a frying pan
- Remove the chops and put them in the slow cooker.
- In the same frying pan, cook the onions with for 3 minutes
- Add the stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Let it cool a little before you pour it into the slow cooker. You can add the mixed herbs now, and also some salt and pepper
- Cook on High for 2 hours
- Add the beans and turn the cooker to Low for 4 hours
- When you serve the stew, the bones fall out by themselves
* You could leave out the beans and cook everything else on High for 3 hours
* Don’t fancy the swede? Leave it out
* Make your own vegetable stock, or use stock from a packet, cube, sachet, whatever.
