Friuli lamb stew
Spezzatino d’agnello
What makes this lamb stew recipe worth writing about is the addition of cinnamon. Anyone can make a nice stew of lamb, tomato paste and red wine, but condiment with cinnamon – and only cinnamon – gives the savoury dish an interesting Middle Eastern tint. Even though it is supposed to originate in Friuli.
Ingredients
500 g diced leg of lamb
50 g pancetta or bacon
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp flour
250 ml meat stock
250 ml red wine
1 tsp cinnamon powder or 3 cm cinnamon bark
Olive oil, salt, pepper
Preparation
Cut the pancetta or bacon in fine strips and fry them in oil.
Add peeled and chopped onion and garlic and let it soften
Fry lamb cubes and when brown, stir in cinnamon bark and tomato paste (tomato paste acquires more taste when fried)
Stir in the flour, top up with water and let the meat simmer under lid
After about 15 minute, wine should be added to the pot (along with cinnamon powder, if you prefer this to bark)
Leave the dish to simmer for another half hour or until the meat is tender.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
More lamb recipes
Roast lamb with potatoes and herbs
Roast lamb with curry and apricot sauce
This recipe was last tested and updated in October 2017.
The only only spice in this lamb stew from Friuli is cinnamon bark.
That looks just about perfect for this time of year, especially with the addition of cinnamon. We had something similar for our Christmas dinner but added apricots, too. More of a Moroccan dish than an Italian one.
Julia