Lamb Meatball and Mushroom Stew
Dried favas melt into the broth, dried mushrooms rebuild it, and the meatballs come pre-cooked from home.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 74
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 70 min
- water
- 1000 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Cooked lamb meatballs | 1 lb | browned at home, carried in the cooler or vacuum sealed |
|---|---|---|
| Split dried fava beans | 3/4 cup | buy them peeled; skins never soften |
| Dried mushrooms | 1 oz | any cheap mild kind, crumbled |
| Dried onion or shallot flakes | 1/3 cup | |
| Bouillon or stock concentrate | 3 cups worth | |
| Freeze-dried spinach | 1 cup | |
| Dried mint | 1 tsp | |
| Cooking oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes | to taste |
Method
- Cover the favas with water in the pot the night before, or at minimum three hours out. They cook faster and thicken better soaked.
- Drain the soak water. Add the favas, mushrooms, onion flakes, bouillon, and about 1000 ml of fresh water. Bring to a boil, then hold at a low simmer.
- Simmer 35 to 40 minutes, stirring now and then. The favas should fall apart. That collapse is the thickener, so do not fight it.
- Drop in the meatballs and the oil. Simmer ten more minutes to heat them through.
- Kill the heat. Stir in the spinach and the mint and put the lid on for two minutes. Season and eat.
This started as a home stew built on fresh greens, fresh mushrooms, and raw ground lamb. Two of those three do not travel. The fix is dried mushrooms, which rehydrate into the broth and give up more flavor than fresh ones do, and freeze-dried spinach, which needs nothing but residual heat. The meatballs get formed and browned in a kitchen and carried cooked, which removes the messiest step from camp and makes the pot a matter of boiling and waiting.
The dried favas are the point. They dissolve as they cook and turn thin broth into something with body, which is why the simmer is long and why you should not stir them gently. Buy them split and peeled. Whole ones keep their skins, and picking bean skins out of your teeth by headlamp is a bad end to a good dinner.
Packing
Favas, mushrooms, onion flakes, and bouillon go in one bag; they all start the pot together. Spinach and mint ride in a second small bag so they stay out until the end. Meatballs go in the cooler.
Variations
- Skip the meatballs and use a strong vegetable bouillon. The beans and mushrooms carry the pot on their own.
- A packet of shelf-stable summer sausage, sliced and browned, replaces the meatballs with no cooler required.
- A squeeze of lemon or a splash of vinegar at the end wakes the whole thing up.
https://foragerchef.com/meatball-stew-with-pheasant-backs-and-campion