Day 156: Not Baaaaaad

The chill is on here in San Francisco.  I know those of you on the East Coast have zero sympathy, but as my husband says all the time - I've gone soft.  When the mercury dips below 60 degrees, I am COLD!!

I decided to make some stew tonight and found a yummy sounding recipe on Epicurious.com.  Generally, I prefer lamb to beef in stew and this one, with chickpeas and spinach sounded like a winner.

I had nearly all of the ingredients called for - just needed the lamb shoulder, so I visited my neighborhood meat market.  What I wasn't prepared for was for him to be out of stew-able lamb.  What to do?  After talking with the butcher, I was somehow convinced to buy goat instead!!  A friend of mine has talked up goat many time before and without a clear back-up plan in mind, I just went for it.  And it was good!

Overall, I'd give the stew a "fair" rating, but that didn't have anything to do with the meat.  The dish had decent flavor, but because it didn't call for any spices, it was a bit one dimensional.  I added a couple of drops of my beloved Sriracha to the broth, mixed it up, and that really helped.

I think there are lots of tastier stew recipes out there and so I don't foresee making this one again anytime soon.  The goat?  THAT I may need to try again.  Any recipes or ideas?