Lamb & leek blanquette

A blanquette (sometimes called a ragout) is a tasty, cheap and easy way to use all your little scraps of left over meat and/or vegetables. It has it’s origin in the French kitchen.

With only a few cheap ingredients and some leftovers; you create something that looks festive enough for a fancy brunch or as a an appetiser or main course for a dinner with friends and family. If you serve it with rice or pasta instead of in a vol-au-vent it makes a very filling dinner.

I ADORE stews with lamb. If I cook the lamb meat in broth for said stews; I always cook some extra to put in the freezer for a soup or a blanquette like this. Leftover lamb from dinner or a BBQ will also do in this lamb and leek blanquette.

Don’t you have any leftover lamb? Cook the lamb meat in broth for an hour on low temperature. Leftover meat from dinner or the BBQ could use some cooking in broth too; blanquette is the most tasty if the meat falls apart. Be sure to keep the broth!

Lamb meat with bone and fat on it are the best parts to use in a stew; and thus in this blanquette. I prefer the meat of the neck; since it is also the cheapest (And I’m a cheapskate). Your local butcher can advice you what good parts to use in a stew are. Leaner parts are also possible to use.

I served this blanquette in vol au vent shells. This is a pastry puff that is really easy to make by yourself. They only cost 0.40 cents per 4 over here pre-made.. sooo…lazyness won. Apparently they are tastier when you make them yourself.. so I recommend making them yourself…if you are less lazy then I am.. heehee.

This blanquette also goes well with rice (like this tomatorice), potatoes, on a toasted piece of bread, or cold on a sandwich with some lettuce to work.

Lamb & leek blanquette

Recipe by Smodder.com (Stef Bruurs)Cuisine: French

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

A savoury blanquette from lamb & leek or your leftovers, to serve in a vol-au-vent, on rice, on a sandwich or on pasta.

Ingredients

• 150 gr/6 oz. lamb meat

• 200 ml/6 fl. oz broth

• 25 gr/0,8 oz butter. Real butter; not plant based.

• 30 gr/1 oz flour

• 1 small white onion (or red/yellow/spring onion etc.)

• 75 gr/2,5 oz leek

• 1 garlic clove

• 1/4 teaspone thyme (fresh or dried)

• 1 tablespoon worcester(shire)sauce

• 50 m/1,5 oz cream

Directions

• Cook the lamb in broth if needed; save the broth
• Cook the chopped onion, leek and garlic with the thyme in all the butter
• Put the stove on low and add the flour; stir untill it browns a bit.
• While still stirring; add the broth tablespoon by tablespoon. This way it will not get lumpy.
• Add the worcestersauce, pepper en salt to taste, and the cream. Bon appetit!

Notes

• You can replace the worcestersauce by 50/50 soy sauce + ketchup
• You can replace the lamb with sheep, goat, chicken and beef.
• After adding the cream; do not let it cook anymore.