Slow Cooked Lamb Stew

This hearty one-pot lamb stew recipe boasts tender flavoursome lamb, chunky homegrown vegetables and pearl barley to soak up the juices. There's no nicer way to use up cheaper cuts of lamb than in a warm, comforting stew.

Difficulty:

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 8 hours

Serves: 6

Related Tags

Lamb seasonality

Ingredients

1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 pieces of smoked streaky bacon, from our master butchers, cut into chunks
900g stewing lamb like middle neck or scrag (ask our master butches), cut into large chunks
small bunch thyme
3 onions, thickly sliced
5 carrots, cut into big chunks
6 medium Darts Farm potatoes, cut into big chunks
700ml lamb stock
3 bay leaves
85g pearl barley
1 large Dart Farm leek, washed and cut into chunks
small knob of butter

Method

Heat the slow cooker if necessary, then heat the oil in a frying pan. Sizzle the bacon until crisp, tip into the slow-cooker pot, then brown the chunks of lamb in the pan.
Transfer to the slow-cooker pot along with the thyme, onions, carrots, potatoes, stock, bay leaves and enough water to cover the lamb. Cover and cook on Low for 7 hrs.
Stir in the pearl barley and leek, and cook on High for 1 hr more until the pearl barley is tender.
Stir in the butter, season and serve scooped straight from the dish.