Lamb Navarin – Oven Roasted LambTurnip Stew
Ingredients
1 pound boneless lamb shank
2 teaspoons spelt flour
1 yellow onion
1 whole carrot
3 cloves of garlic
8 sprigs of fresh thyme or ¼ tsp dried thyme crushed between your fingers to release aroma
1 bay leaf
½-cup dry white wine ( the alcohol will cook off or can be omitted)
2 C. water
1 lemon juice from one lemon
Preparation
Cut lamb shank into 1-2 inch cubes and brown in n a Dutch oven or stockpot. If there are any bones, leave these attached. Trim the fat away and toss. Sprinkle spelt flour over the meat and sauté. Once the lamb has browned, add onion, carrot, garlic, thyme,and bay leaf. Add water plus wine so it just the fluid just reaches the meat. Squeeze the juice from a lemon over all. Simmer on the stove top until it begins to form little bubbles. Then place in an oven safe pot and into a preheated 360º oven for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes pull the lamb from the oven. Remove the meat and set aside. Strain the broth into another bowl. Toss the previous aromatics and vegetables.
Add these freshly cut vegetables after previously roasting the lamb.
4 medium carrots, cut in 2-inch slices peel or turn into oval shapes
8 small white turnips, quartered. Peel thickly and place in an iced lemon bath
½ C. peas
2 C. mushrooms
1 rutabagas
1 yellow onion sliced into quarters
10 small pearl onions, peeled wait to add until the final 10 minutes of roasting
Preparation of Second Set of Vegetables
The main ingredients are turnips and lamb. Other vegetables can be added or omitted as you choose. I like the taste of vegetables cooked with meats so I include many in this dish. This navarin tastes almost sweet on its own.
Peel the above vegetables and cut into cubes. If feeling adventurous turn the cut vegetables making them into cute little football shapes or ovals. Peel the turnips and rutabagas thickly and place in a large bowl with ice water and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add the chopped vegetables to the same oven safe pot. Add the quartered onions and sauté. Add the root vegetables until all are lightly browned. Return the lamb to the pot and continue to sauté. Add the strained broth. Season lightly with Himalayan salt and a few turns of freshly ground pepper. Cook the stew on the stovetop until it bubbles gently then place it once again in a 350ºF oven for 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary to just barely reach the meat line. If using small pearl onions, add only during the last fifteen minutes of roasting, otherwise they will melt. The original recipe uses 2 tablespoons of tomato paste added at the very beginning. Tomatoes are a nightshade plant and high in potassium, oxalates and have tiny seeds that sometimes stick in diverticula, a common symptom with cystic organs. This lamb stew when cooked in the oven creates a very rich sauce that is very nourishing. You can leave it in the oven while you do other things. I try to set the timer as I the tendency to forget that I have something cooking.
Note
Lamb is a different type of protein especially when cooked long and slow transferred from the stove top to the oven. The addition of the lemon and or wine will leach the calcium from the lamb bones and create a rich thick broth that forms a geleé when cooled. By placing the lamb stew twice in the oven with fresh vegetables this melds the flavors with the broth. By slowly cooking in the oven, this changes these normally acidic foods more toward the alkaline, aiding their digestion. I usually eat the vegetables and pass on the meats.
If you have difficulties avoiding meats and animal proteins entirely, lamb is a good choice. Until you can eliminate animal proteins totally from the diet, here are a few suggestions:
Lamb
Fish flat white fish with eyes on the same side of their head – non oily fish
Game birds
It is possible to eat 3 ounces of animal protein up to twice a week or less frequently. It is best to maintain the amount at no more than three ounces per day. If it is cheese, then this should be limited to one ounce. PKD researchers have discovered that eating meat like a lion, that is not eating any meat for several days then gorging on 2 pounds of meat lessens the filtration rate of kidneys, known as GFR. To maintain the health of cystic organs, increase the amount of plant based foods and lessen animal foods. Animal proteins are acid forming. Most plant based foods are alkaline
