Stew's Spring Awakening

Hearty but not heavy, navarin d'agneau showcases the season's first crop of vegetables and the delicate flavor of milk-fed lamb

By ALEKSANDRA CRAPANZANO

My family moved to Paris when I was 11 years old, and what began as a mere love of food quickly turned into a passionate exploration of all things edible. I savored our daily trips to the local markets. The food of course was what enticed—that and my parents' undivided atten-tion (these being the days before iPhones and BlackBerrys)—but there was something else as well that captured my imagination: the theater of it all.

David Prince for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Brett Kurzweil

LIGHT LUXURY: This traditional French stew plays up the flavors of baby turnips and green peas.

To a French cook, marketing is a high-stakes negotiation. It might be over a tomato or a leg of lamb or the last white truffle. But it is never routine, never indifferent. My favorite shopping expeditions were invariably in the spring, when Parisians took to the Marché Boulevard Raspail, a few blocks from our apartment, with the singular mission of securing the ingredients for navarin d'agneau, the French lamb stew that heralds spring.

Navarin d'agneau is the antithesis of a winter stew. It's not meant to offer comfort when the windows are glazed in frost. It's not meant to transform a cheap, tough hunk of meat into something palatable through hours of slow-cooking. It's not meant to be mind-bendingly complex, with a depth of flavor demanding an equally assertive red wine. A navarin d'agneau is a delicate dish, a celebration of spring's tender, milk-fed lambs and the first sweet crop of vegetables. It's elegant, refined and light by French standards—a simple medley of lamb, vegetables and herbs cooked in a flavorful broth that, thanks to the inclusion of potatoes, needs no more than a baguette to accompany it. Cooked for a few hours, the lamb's flavor deepens but remains mild, allowing for a balance of flavors and colors that suggests a spring garden. To be a triumph, each vegetable must taste gloriously of itself. It's a piece of theater—no one must be upstaged, no one buried in the chorus.

I no longer live in France, but, for me, the pleasure in making a navarin d'agneau remains almost as much in the marketing as in the feasting. It's about finding tiny peanut potatoes in the farmers' market, firm pearl onions, carrots so new they're no thicker than a pen, baby turnips, English peas, fresh thyme and, if I can find it, spring garlic. If there are truly good cherry tomatoes to be had, I'll halve them and stir in a pint about 10 minutes before serving the stew. If fresh favas catch my eye, I add them as well. A scattering of young parsley leaves is always colorful, and I don't hesitate to sprinkle on fresh chives or scallions. Really, the only rule to making a navarin is to let spring's bounty be the inspiration and the guide. It's all about what you procure. And while I adhere to the classic technique of caramelizing the meat over high heat with sugar, when it comes to simmering the meat, I prefer the lighter touch of chicken stock to the traditional beef as it complements rather than overwhelms the young vegetables.

It may seem like a paradox to lighten a dish with crème fraîche, but a final swirl gives a tangy freshness to the navarin and draws together the disparate flavors in exquisite harmony.

Navarin D'Agneau

HANDS-ON TIME: 1¼ hrs.

TOTAL TIME: 4 hRS.

SERVES: 6

3 tablespoons canola oil
3½ pounds boneless lamb— a selection of shoulder, ribs and breast, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons flour
4 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
1 bunch fresh thyme
18 pearl onions, peeled
6 carrots, peeled
8 baby turnips
18 tiny potatoes
1½ cups green peas, fresh or frozen
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Crème fraîche to taste, about 1/3 cup
Fleur de sel

A navarin d'agneau is a delicate dish, a celebration of spring's tender, milk-fed lambs and the first sweet crop of vegetables.

WHAT TO DO:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet. While it's heating, dry lamb with paper towels and season liberally with salt and pepper.

3. Brown the lamb in the hot oil—you will probably need to do this in two batches. Once brown, transfer lamb to a Dutch oven and set over medium-high heat. Once the Dutch oven has heated, sprinkle the lamb with sugar and toss until caramelized, about 3-5 minutes.

4. Sprinkle lamb with flour and toss again. Place Dutch oven in the oven and cook for 5 minutes. Toss the meat and cook for an additional 5 minutes. The lamb should be slightly crusted by now. Remove from oven.

5. Reduce heat to 325 degrees.

6. Add chicken broth to the lamb, along with the tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf and several sprigs of thyme. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Bring broth to a lazy simmer. Cover the pot and return it to the oven. Bake for 2 hours or until the lamb is meltingly tender. Meanwhile, with a paring knife, carve a shallow "x" into the root ends of the pearl onions. Cut carrots lengthwise into matchsticks. Quarter baby turnips.

7. Parboil each of the vegetables separately in boiling salted water until just short of tender. (This will take about 10 minutes for the pearl onions, 10 for the potatoes, 5 for the carrots, 5 for the turnips and 2 for the peas, but cooking times will vary according to the size and age of the vegetables.) Once cooked, plunge vegetables into ice-water to stop them from cooking further.

8. Remove navarin from the oven when ready. Transfer lamb to a bowl. Strain the remaining liquid, discarding the solids. Return meat to Dutch oven. Nestle vegetables and cherry tomatoes around meat. Pour the strained liquid back in. Cover and return to the oven for an additional 10-15 minutes. Off heat, stir in the crème fraîche.

9. Serve in wide bowls, sprinkled with fleur de sel and a scattering of the remaining thyme and any other fresh herbs of your fancy. A crusty baguette is the perfect partner. Follow with a salad of young greens and a selection of cheeses.