1/2cuporange juice(freshly squeezed, about 1.5 oranges)
salt
pepper
1lbscubed lamb
2Tbspalmond butter
2Tbsptapioca starch(or corn starch)
puff pastry(home-made or store-bought, see post text for instructions of homemade)
1egg
Instructions
Peel and finely chop onion.
Peel and crush garlic.
Peel and finely chop carrots.
Wash and finely chop celery.
Pit and finely chop dates.
Measure out or prepare 2.5 cups chicken stock.
Thoroughly wash and dry orange, then scrape off some peel careful to not remove any white bits (bitter), only orange rough peel.
Juice 1-2 oranges until you get about 1/2 cup of juice.
Heat a dollop of olive oil in a large deep pan or a pot over medium heat.
Once hot, add onion and garlic to pan and stir until onion is translucent.
Add carrots, celery, dates, chicken stock, orange peel and orange juice to pan and bring to the boil.
Season with salt and pepper.
Once boiling add lamb and then reduce heat immediately to simmer.
Cover and simmer for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Try and season with salt and pepper again if necessary.
Mix starch with 2 Tbsp water until well combined then stir into stew (do not add to stew without dissolving in water first otherwise lumps might form).
Add almond butter and stir.
Simmer for 15 minutes uncovered while stirring occasionally until sauce has thickened.
Remove from heat and let cool uncovered to room temperature (this takes about 1 hour).
Place pan far away from oven and preheat oven to 400F (200°C).
Transfer room temperature warm stew to oven-proof dish (I used a cast iron skillet but a oven-proof pyrex is just as good). The dish should be quite shallow. The stew should fill 4/5 of the dish.
Roll out puff pastry to about 2 inches bigger than the dish.
Wet the edges of the dish with water then cover the dish with puff pastry folding the pastry over the edges.
Whisk egg and 1 Tbsp of water together to form an egg wash and then brush the egg wash on the pastry.
Transfer to very hot oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until pastry is golden.