lamb in red wine

now here’s one that just popped into my head this morning… haven’t made it for a while, but it’s just the thing for a cold winter’s night.

take a 1.5kg de-boned leg of lamb and cut into largish chunks. brown briefly in olive oil a deep pot. do this in batches. to this add 400g of peeled carrots, also cut into large chunks, and 400g of whole baby onions. season with black peppercorns and a few dried bay leaves. pour dry red wine over everything to completely cover it. bring to boil, then cover and simmer over a low heat until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened slightly. it'll take about 2 hours. if the sauce is not thick enough to your liking, thicken it with flour.

the original version is with a dry red wine, but for various reasons, i don’t cook with alcohol anymore, and the web says you can substitute red wine with the following: non-alcoholic wine, beef or chicken stock, diluted red wine vinegar, red grape juice diluted with red wine vinegar, tomato juice, liquid from canned mushrooms, plain water. i have found that diluted red wine vinegar is the best substitute. i add a teaspoon or so of brown sugar to it, just to break the acidity a bit.

and that’s it. serve with creamy mashed potatoes. delicious it is!