Navarin
The name "navarin" possibly comes from the French name for "turnip", "navet." Some cooks are now calling anything that has turnips in it a "Navarin."
Navarin is a French ragoût (stew) of lamb or mutton. If made with lamb and vegetables available fresh in the spring, it is called navarin printanier (spring stew).
A navarin is a lamb dish that celebrates the spring harvest. It brings together young, tender lamb and the first of the new season's baby vegetables. The sauce is lighter and less complex than those in the more robust winter casseroles. This brothlike sauce is well suited to the subtle flavors of the baby carrots, baby turnips, peas and asparagus tips. Fava beans or haricots verts are optional additions. The most typical accompaniment is boiled new potatoes, tossed in butter and parsley.
Ingredients:
4 Tbs. (1⁄2 stick) unsalted butter
1 boneless leg of lamb, about 1.5 kg, cut into 5 cm pieces
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
2 cups dry white wine
2 1/2 cups water
2 Tbs. beef demi-glace *
3 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs
2 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
4 garlic cloves, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
600 gr. baby carrots, peeled
12 baby turnips, peeled
600 gr. shallots, peeled
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
24 asparagus tips, each 7 cm long
Directions:
In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter. Working in batches, brown the lamb on all sides, about 15 minutes.
When all the meat is browned, return it to the pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the meat and onion and stir until the flour browns, about 30 seconds. Add the wine, water, demi-glace, parsley, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Stir the meat, add the garlic, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the carrots, turnips and shallots, cover and simmer until the meat is tender, about 40 minutes more. Add the peas and asparagus and cook for 6 to 8 minutes more. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat and vegetables to a warmed serving dish; keep warm.
Increase the heat to high, bring the liquid to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, and pour over the meat and vegetables. Serve immediately.
Serves 6.
*beef demi-glace - Demi-glace (pronounced "demi-GLASS") is a rich and deeply flavorful sauce that is traditionally served with red meats.
Demi-glace is made by reducing a mixture of half basic brown sauce and half brown stock.
When cooking with demi-glace, keep these tips in mind:
Season a sauce made with demi-glace just before serving. The demi-glace is so intensely flavored that further seasoning may not be necessary.
Demi-glace will boost the flavor of a finished dish when incorporated at the end of cooking. Before adding the demi-glace, dilute it with a few teaspoons of hot water until it reaches the consistency of heavy cream. This will make it easier and faster to incorporate. Add the diluted demi-glace one teaspoon at a time until you achieve the desired flavor.
Simple dishes become stellar ones with the addition of demi-glace, as you'll discover in the recipes here.
Enjoy!
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Savoring Series, Savoring Provence, by Diane Holuigue (Time-Life Books, 2002).
Diane Holuigue ‘Australia’s Julia Childs’!
Kitchen Notes from Terry Boyd: Lamb Recipes: Lamb Navarin (Navarin d’Agneau):
- You can also use boneless lamb shoulder and cut it into chunks. You can even use bone-in lamb shoulder chops and cut them up.
- Onion! You start with a yellow onion to flavor the overall braise.
In this recipe, shallots are added later, offering the occasional mild oniony bite.
Some recipes call for spring or green onions.
You could also use leeks.
When preparing the shallots for this version, peel off the dry outer skins, separate individual lobes, then slice them once crosswise and once lengthwise to quarter them. As they cook, they will probably further separate into smaller pieces.
That’s fine.
- Making the roux is the most French way to thicken the stew’s sauce.
You could make a beurre manié instead, kneading together soft butter and flour and adding it to the sauce, also very French.
But the roux avoids the raw flour taste and is far less messy to deal with.
You could also thicken the sauce with cornstarch dissolved in cold water.
And finally, you could say screw it and not bother to thicken the sauce. Only don’t do this.
A velvety sauce gives the whole dish a nice finish.
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