Venture Lamb Stew with Roast Garlic Cream

My friends at Venture Caravans in Northamptonshire and I decided to have a fun Sunday cooking in the smallest of their new Elddis Sanremo caravans. OK this isn't exactly my caravan kitchen but it's still a caravan kitchen and probably the smallest one I've ever cooked in, and without doubt the most people I've cooked for in a caravan too! Nevertheless a great day was had by all and the stew was polished off so please do try my recipe and let me know how you get on.

Ingredients:

Stew:
Lamb - as much or as little as you need. We used diced leg seasoned with salt and pepper
Potatoes - peeled and cut into chunks
Sweet potatoes - peeled and cut into chunks
Carrots - peeled and sliced
Leeks - sliced
Celery - sliced
Swede - peeled and cut into chunks
Garlic - 1 clove peeled and crushed
Onions - peeled and diced
Cannellini beans
Peas
Red wine
Tomato puree
Stock cubes
Rosemary - finely chopped
Caraway seeds
Cornflour
Umami (this is a nice to have but not essential) - check out my Foodie Finds for more information

Garlic Cream:
Garlic - 1 bulb
Cream - 1 Pot
White wine - 1 glass
Nutmeg
Hard cheese like gruyere


Method:

For the stew:
1. In a separate frying pan or wok brown the meat in stages, placing in your stock pot when done.
2. Sweat off the onion in the frying pan then add the diced garlic clove and cook for a further minute or two. Add a big squeeze of tomato puree, cook for another minute then scrape the lot into the stock pot.
3. Into the stock pot goes all the veg, the rosemary, 2 teaspoons of caraway seeds, the red wine (we used half a bottle), and the umami if you are using it.
4. Fill with enough water and bring to a simmer.
5. Add the stock cubes and simmer away until the meat is tender and the potatoes are cooked through.
6. Thicken with cornflour mixed with a drop of cold water if needed.
7. For the last few minutes bung in the cannellini beans and peas and season with salt and pepper if needed.

For the Roast Garlic Puree:
1. Snip off the stem of the whole garlic bulb and wrap in foil. Drizzle with oil and season with salt before sealing the foil.
2. Roast in the oven on gas mark 2 for about 45 minutes to an hour. You will know when its done when the garlic cloves have turned into a gooey pulp.
3. Squeeze out all the pulp into a pan, add the cream, a glass of white wine and a pinch of nutmeg. Bring to a simmer and reduce down to a thick cream consistency.
4. Add a big handful of grated cheese and season to taste.

Serve a nice bowl of stew topped with the garlic puree, some mint sauce and a drizzle of nice oil, and don't forget the chunk of crusty bread and butter.

You can watch me cooking this in an Elddis Sanremo at Venture Caravans in the YouTube clip below. Its just a bit of fun but I think I'll stick to the day job!