My mouth has gone as dry as sawdust. I desperately find Cinna in the crowd and lock eyes with him. I imagine the words coming from his lips. “What’s impressed you the most since you arrived here?” I rack my brain for something that made me happy here. Be honest, I think. Be honest.
“The lamb stew,” I get out.
Caesar laughs, and vaguely I realize some of the audience has joined in.
“The one with the dried plums?” asks Caesar. I nod. “Oh, I eat it by the bucketful.” He turns sideways to the audience in horror, hand on his stomach. “It doesn’t show, does it?”
After the failure of my first lamb stew, I was totally scared to do this again, but with some encouraging feedback from Adam and Savanna of Picktainment’s Hunger Games Fireside Chat, I had another go with a completely different recipe. This time, I used the same recipe they did, which is from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking
The recipe called for a shockingly large amount of vegetables, so I ended up cutting that down drastically and I’m glad I did because if I hadn’t I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have had a very stew-like dish. I told myself that when Julia was cooking in France, she was probably using fresh local produce back when we didn’t have massively huge carrot varieties. I cut down her 6 carrots to 3 large ones. Her 6 potatoes to 2 medium, and omitted the turnips and green beans. The turnips were left out because I simply couldn’t find them.
For onions, I used 16 pearl onions. When I first saw her recipe and saw that she called for 16-18 small onions, I was like, “No way. What is this, onion stew?” But the ingredients list says 1″ long onions. I took this to mean pearl onions. I tasted the stew after the first hour in the oven and it was heavenly, so I was pretty scared to add a package of dried plums and drastically change the taste. Instead, I spooned some stew into a small pot and simmered it on the stove with 3 dried plums cut in half. After it cooked for a while, I was satisfied that the taste was still good and so I added a handful of halved dried plums to the whole pot and let it cook for another hour. What came out was quite delicious, though very different than beef stew since the flavor and smell of lamb is very distinct.
Julia said not to use lamb leg, but I have no idea where to get anything but lamb leg, so that’s what I used. She said it would get stringy and it did, falling apart as I stirred, but I actually loved this. The meat simply fell apart and made the whole stew thicker, which is just how I like my stew. The reduced amount of veggies was just right for the amount of broth I had and both me and the hubby enjoyed a new and interesting meal.
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mmmmmmmmm……….Now I’m hungry again!
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This is so rad. Absolutely preying on my devout love of the hunger games. and food.
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Where do you live that you cannot find turnips?
Hawaii. 🙁
It seems to me that would probably be the only downside to living in a Hawaiian paradise! To heck with the turnips in your case! 🙂
Just tried this recipe today and OH MY GOSH IT WAS HEAVENLY!!!!! We liked it so much my mom is gonna make it for my grandpa for his birthday. The plums were the best part. SO GOOD. 🙂
Delish~!!!! LOOVE IT!
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Hi 😉 Im from the Netherlands and I’d like to try this recipe :), but…. What do you mean by ‘2 cans’ how much is that ? since I don’t understand 😉
In US, each can is 14.5 ounces, or 29 ounces total for this recipe. It would be 857 ml elsewhere in the world 🙂
Hope this helps! Happy cooking!
This looks absolutely amazing! I do love lamb so as soon as I started reading the books my mouth was watering at the description of this meal. Thank you for bringing it to life! One question, if I don’t have a dutch oven, what would be a good alternative to cook this recipe properly? I do have a crock pot…thanks again!!
I’m not the original poster of this recipe but I convert lots of recipes to the slow cooker. Cut the lamb into small chunks of about 2″ so the veggies don’t cook and fall apart before the meat is cooked. Be sure to brown the meat before you toss everything in the slow cooker. You’ll want to keep that yummy flavor from browning it first. I would toss everything in the pot other than the plums and peas and cook 3-4 hours on medium. Add plums and peas (still frozen) and simmer for another hour and a half or so.
Happy cooking!
Made this recipe at a recent Hunger Games book club. See it on my blog (with a link back to you):
http://www.chicagonow.com/chewables-chicago/2012/02/why-i’m-a-geek-cooking-hunger-games-inspired-food-for-book-club/
Thanks so much!
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Thanks for this wonderful recipe. I just made it last night and it was absolutely fantastic! I had to use beef instead of lamb, but the flavor was great and it was a rich, hearty meal for a cold winter’s day. And I got to feel wonderfully literary while eating it. I hope you don’t mind that I wrote it up on my blog–I gave you credit and linked to this post!
http://foodiesuzy.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/the-hunger-games-lamb-stew/
I’m looking forward to trying some others on here, and seeing what you come up with in the future. Do you have any plans to look at other series or books? I love the idea for this site and will certainly be coming back again!!
I made Foodiesusie’s beef variation, since I didn’t have lamb. When it was first done and served, it was kind of “eh” and I was disappointed. The next day however, after the flavors had melded, it was AWESOME! We also tried it over egg noodles and couscous – both good variations. It makes a TON of food though, I might try scaling back next time, or freezing portions. Watching for a good deal on lamb to try that way, and going to try to adapt the beef version to crock pot. Good work!
I must try this O.o
How many does this recipient serve? I want to make sure I make enough for everyone.
Do you know how long this took including prep time? I plan on making it for a pre-movie premier party and want to be certain I have enough time to make it.
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I was just wondering, about how many people will this serve? Thanks!
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I don’t know why, but I always imagined it to be a creamy white stew
How many servings does this recipe make?? I’m making it Sunday and need to know how much to adjust on quantity.
Thank you!
Geez, I’m not sure. It’s a huge recipe, I’d say it can serve 8 or more.
It was more than 8 for sure, closer to 12. Delish!
Of course we served it in coffee mugs, so it fed the crowd!
I made this for my hunger games party. It was incredibly delicious! We made it again afterwards just because we loved it so much!
Made this for our ‘Christmas in Panem’ party. I don’t have a dutch oven, so did the prep steps of searing and carmelizing on the stove top. I then cooked it on low in the crock pot. This was delicious served over rice! My guests raved about the stew. I’ve added this to my recipe box to make just because it is phenomenal!
This is a MUST TRY! Can you pleeeeeeaseeeeee make more recipes!?! Wasnt there a soup that tasted like ‘springtime”? If you didnt make it already, please do! Or maybe a breakfast meal!!! THAT would be awesome.
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Any ideas as to how this could be adapted for a slow-cooker? I’d prefer to use that if I could.
I used the slow cooker after I browned the lamb. Everything went in on low heat, then last hour on high. Added plums right before serving. It cooked for 6 hours on low. Then we served over wild rice. It was amazing!
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