Lamb Youvetsi

Directions

• Cut your lamb into thick chunks and then brown the meat in a pot with a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Try not to over crowd the pot and brown the meat in two batches if required.
• Add diced onion to the pot and stir. Allow the onion to brown slightly. Be careful not to burn them.
• Add the grated garlic and mix
• Pour a can of crushed tomato and a cup of water to the pot.
• Add salt, pepper, sweet paprika, fresh parsley and the two bay leaves. You can also add chilli flakes if you want a bit of spice but be careful not to add too much.
• Stir and bring the heat down to a simmer. Your meat should be fully covered with all the juices. If your meat is still exposed, add more water until all the meat is covered.
• Put the lid on the pot and allow to simmer for 3 hours. Check back every 30 mins to stir and check the water hasn’t evaporated too much. You don’t want the sauce to burn, you want the sauce to thicken. If you think the water has evaporated too much and the base of the pot is starting to stick, you can add more water with a beef stock cube.
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
• After your 3 hours is up, add 450g of uncooked Orzo pasta and stir through the meat. The pasta will absorb a lot of the water when you move the pot to the oven to bake, so ensure you have enough water.
• Add oregano
• Once the oven is preheated, add the pot to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
• Stir it all together to make sure the pasta doesn’t stick to the bottom.
• Pour 1-2 cups of boiling beef stock water into the pot for a more saucier consistency. Don’t be afraid to pour this extra liquid because you’re going to leave the pot on the counter for 20 minutes with the lid on before serving. This will allow the pasta to soak in more of the juices but will also leave you with a flavoursome sauce instead of a gluggy mess.
  
• When it’s time to serve, crumble feta, fresh parsley and parmesan on top.