antipinkkitten Ah, Europe. We touched on this for a short while at the beginning of our tour, as we explored Greece. We then leaped into the Persia empire and continued east until we arrived at the Americas. Now as we prepare to finish our first round of our World Tour, we need to return to Europe and we’re kicking it off with an Iberian Stew.
Iberian Culture
Iberia is a region of Europe consisting of Spain and Portugal, with a portion of Morocco. This region is full of rich history and mapping of genomes in regards to human evolution and the expansion throughout Europe.
Iberian culture was richly influenced by the Greeks and Phoenicians during the 6th century BCE. With these interactions; cereal grains, wines and grapes and iron tools and farming methods were introduced, leading a large expansion of their population.
Throughout this time, they grew in art and culture, having their own language and it wasn’t until they met the Romans that their identity started to disappear.
As it is with all documentation from outsiders (Especially, those who belong to the invading culture), we have to be sensitive with what we accept on second-hand accounts. One of the accounts of what they ate, came from the Greek Philosopher, Strabo. If you’ve seen any of the Brad’s Labs videos on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, you may be quite familiar with Strabo.
Strabo, after encountering the Iberians, had noted the food choices from different regions, including the northern portion, which was resided by the Celts. Then, the southern regions, which was lived in by what the Greeks most commonly referred to as the Iberians. He had noted that “They also drank beer and used butter instead of olive oil”, however, we have evidence that they also used olive oil, which was prevalent in that region.
Iberian Stew
Ingredients
- 2 pound of Lamb Chops, cut into stew meat
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp of salted butter
- 1 liter of water
- 1/2 tsp of rosemary
- 1/2 tsp of oregano
- 1/4 tsp of fennel seed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place Dutch Oven in the oven while preheating; let it warm up for 20 minutes.
- Dice onion, carrots and peel garlic cloves. Smash garlic cloves and place aside.
- Trim Lamb Chops into stew meat chunks; removing bone.
- Once the Dutch Oven is warmed, remove from oven and add butter and carrots. Stir into butter to begin to soften the carrots; after a minute add the onions.
- Once the onions start to become translucent, add garlic cloves.
- Then, add the lamb meat and stir into mixture. Allow it to become slightly browned before adding the water, rosemary and fennel seed. Stir mixture.
- Cover stew and return to oven for 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let it cool for 5 minutes.
Notes
This recipe would benefit greatly with taking the lamb bones, herbs and water, doubling the herbs and allowing it to stew to create a broth, prior to adding to stew. Additional time to brown the meat would also help, but both would add significant cooking and preparation time to the recipe.
Reviews
Meghan’s Review
4 out of 5 stars
I loved this recipe. The lamb was such a great flavor and I honestly didn’t mind having this stew in a warmer evening. The flavors were amazing but I wish we would have added more vegetables to the mixture (more carrots, leeks, maybe turnips?). It would have pumped it up and made it even more savory. I also provided cooking recommendations in the recipe that would make it have even more of a “wow” factor.
Brad’s Review
4 out of 5 stars
This is one of those meals that you make on a cold winters days when the snow is coming down heavy or it is pouring rain out. It is a very satisfying meal and the flavours all mixed well together. The only complaint I have for it, it needed more vegetables. The carrots weren’t enough, or maybe there were just too few. Either way, it would have benefited from something starchy.
