Lamb Braised in Wild Mushroom Sauce - Chef Phillip Abbott, President, Terra Spice Co.

Chef Abbott's culinary career has taken him to several great restaurants in California, Florida and other locations and it has exposed him to a variety of interesting cuisines.  This dish was influenced by Australian style cooking and he prepared it using some dried morel mushrooms and a good Australian red wine.  We'll leave the amount of meat and mushrooms up to you depending on how much you want to feed.  It is truly excellent and we recommend you try it.

Ingredients:

Fresh or dried wild mushrooms
1/2 cup red wine
3 cups beef stock
Arrowroot powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp caraway
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste
2 bay leaves
Diced meat from leg of lamb

Reconstitute mushrooms (if dried) in the red wine by bringing to a boil and simmering for 10 minutes.  Then Remove from the heat and allow it to soak for 1/2 hour or more.  

Grind/grate the spices and season lamb with the spice mixture and salt.   Brown meat in a skillet with your choice of oils.  After browning, remove meat and deglaze pan with the mushrooms and wine.  Cook mushrooms and wine for about 5 minutes.  Add meat and beef stock, cover and place in a 300 degree oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 

Remove from oven and thicken sauce as needed with additional arrowroot.  Serves 6.