Stifado of Lamb (p. 425)

Stifado refers to way of preparing meats by braising or stewing them in red wine and red wine vinegar.

This is time consuming but not all that difficult, plus it used mini onions, which I pretty much never use. They're also a total pain to peel -- any tips for making it easier? I spent almost 40 minutes peeling those babies.

Sauté the whole onions and crushed garlic until starting to brown, then shove them aside and add the lamb (cut into stewing pieces) into the middle.

Cook until thoroughly browned.

I messed up on my lamb selection by purchasing lamb chops instead of the pre-cut stewing pieces, which means I definitely paid too much, and got less meat than I should have. Oh well.

Anyway, once the meat is browned, add in all of the flavorings -- chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, bay leaves, a cinnamon stick, cloves and allspice, ground cumin, and a little salt and pepper.

Pour in red wine and red wine vinegar, as well as enough water to just cover the meats and veggies.

And now for the part I didn't read before starting -- simmer this slowly on the stove for at least 2 hours. I read this at around 6:30 last night, just as Matt was walking in the door from work. So for dinner, we actually had General Tso's chicken, courtesy of Peking China, not lamb. Which was delicious, but a letdown from what I had been hoping for.

I did have this for lunch, however. It was good and the lamb was very tender and flavorful, but not worth the wait time.

lamb -- $14.69 (again, should have used the less expensive stewing lamb)

onions -- $3.49

tomato -- $.97

Total Cost of Stifado of Lamb: $19.15

($9.58 per serving)