Winter is the time of year when we crave all sorts of comfort foods. It's also usually the time of year where we shrug our shoulders in acceptance of the 5kgs we will invariably gain over the next 3 or 4 months.
If you read my blogs often, you all already know that the weight gain shouldn't be an issue, but the TYPE of foods you eat, should be. I have posted MANY options for healthy meals that, I think, would definitely be called comfort food! They're tasty, some even decadent but ALL good for you.
This post is no different. It's also a first for me because, for more than 12 years I didn't touch lamb. I couldn't eat it. It always made me sick. However, thanks to 2 years of eating clean, organic, chemical-free food, I seem to able to eat a lot of what I never used to be able to as long as I keep it clean. So I decided to try free-range lamb and I discovered that I could eat it quite easily. Boy, was that a happy day:)
My mom actually put me on to lamb neck casserole. In case you hadn't noticed, lamb is rather pricey... (sarcastic much?!) However, lamb neck is definitely more affordable and it also has nice chunks of meat on it if you don't mind eating around the bones. The nice thing about the bones is you can add them to your pot of bones when you're making bone broth and they add a delicious flavour.
So, let's just quickly discuss the benefits of a lamb casserole made with free-range, grass-fed lamb:
- When we talk about omega-3 fats, we straight away think of nuts and seeds as a source on the plant side of things and fish on the animal side. But did you know that you also get an impressive amount of them from grass-fed lamb? The content will depend upon the diet of the sheep, but if they are purely grass-fed, your lamb will have a decent amount of omega-3s. In some countries without access to a coastline and fish, lamb has been shown to provide more omega-3s than any other food in the diet. In Australia, where lamb is eaten a lot by both children and adults, recent studies have shown that lamb ranks among the top omega-3 foods in their daily diet. Grass-fed lamb averages about 25% more omega-3s than conventionally fed lamb and as much as 49% more ALA (alpha-linolenic acid, the basic building block for omega-3s)
- If you've tried to lose weight at any time of your life, you've probably heard of Conjugated linoleic acid or CLA. It's an omega-6 fatty acid that has quite a number of health benefits. We usually don't bother with omega-6s because the average adult consumes too many omega-6s in comparison to omega-3s, but there are many health benefits for increased amounts of individual omega-6 fatty acids. What's REALLY interesting is that CLA is not JUST an omega-6 fatty acid. It's also a trans fatty acid. Yes, I know. Those things are EVIL! However, it seems that CLA is the exception to the rule about omega-6s and trans fats. There is an increasing number of studies that show that CLA is associated with improved immune and inflammatory function, improved bone mass, improved blood sugar regulation, reduced body fat, and better maintenance of lean body mass and guess what? Recent studies show that grass-fed lamb contains nearly twice as much CLA as conventionally fed lamb.
- Lamb is an great source of iron. An average portion can provide 20% of the recommended daily intake for men and 12% for women. The iron found in lamb meat is in a form that's easily absorbed by the body. Iron in your diet is vital for the formation of red blood cells.
- Lamb meat provides 45% of the daily requirement of zinc, essential for growth, healing and a healthy immune system. Like iron, the zinc found in lamb meat is more easily absorbed by the body than zinc found in other sources.
- It's a great source of B vitamins which are essential for metabolic reactions in the body. It can provide over 100% of the daily requirement of B12 and is also a good source of thiamine.
- Trace elements such as copper, manganese and selenium are also found in lamb
- Lamb is a very fatty meat. We know this. But half of that fat is unsaturated and most of that unsaturated fat is monounsaturated, which is the kind commonly found in the healthy 'Mediterranean-type diet'. That being said, you know my thoughts on saturated fat. I don't believe it's bad for you either. All the same, it's nice to know you're getting the benefit of different types of fat by eating lamb.
The key is to make sure that the lamb you buy is grass-fed. That means buying it from a reliable source, in other words, not a grocery store. Free-range doesn't always mean the animals were allowed to roam free and eat grass.
So, how do you make lamb casserole? Well this is my way. You'll find a lot of recipes tell you to fry the lamb in some oil in a pan first but I prefer not to do that. I find it makes the lamb quite tough. Slow cooking them in an oven makes the lamb extremely tender. It also soaks up all the flavours in the bone broth which makes it absolutely delicious. It should go without saying that all of these ingredients need to be organic and free-range to really get the full benefit of this as a healthy comfort food.
Lamb neck casserole
 |
| This is what lamb neck looks like |
1 kg lamb neck
1 shallot or half an onion
2 garlic cloves
1 litre bone broth
4 large potatoes (or sweet potatoes)
4 large carrots
2 cups whole mushrooms
A few sprigs of rosemary (dried will also do fine)
Salt and pepper
2 tsp ground coriander
Method
- Preheat your oven to 150°C
- In a roasting pan pour the bone broth
- Add all the herbs, spices, salt and pepper
- Mix together
- Chop and add garlic, onion, potatoes, mushrooms and carrots
- Leave the lamb in whole pieces and add to pan making sure it's all covered by bone broth
- Add one or two more sprigs of fresh rosemary if you have it
- Put the lid on and place in the oven for about 3 hours
- Serve!
Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
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