Icelandic Lamb Soup

From the land of volcanoes and Scandi-babes comes one of Iceland's famed recipes: Kjötsúpa. No idea what this means?  You are not alone.  Kjötsúpa is a lamb soup. Not sure why, but this dish made me realize just how much my taste buds have evolved. I wouldn't have touched it as a kid. Lamb was stinky and root vegetables were gross. Ok, ok, I would have touched it, because I wasn't allowed dessert unless I ate my main course first. Anyways, I hope you savour this lamb-based broth and simple combination of ingredients as much as I did. Root vegetables are definitely in season in Alberta, so finding turnips, potatoes and carrots was a snap. I even managed to find some Alberta lamb too!

Now here's my attempt to shamelessly plug this soup: Pick up a crusty loaf of French bread, ply it with chunks of cold butter and pour yourself a glass of red wine to enjoy it with. This combination just might make your cold winter evening a little less chilly. 

Adapted from: http://www.soupsong.com

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 6 cups water
• 2.5 kg lamb shank(s), bone in
• Dried onions and other herbs (I used an onion soup mix...might be cheating)
• Half a large onion, diced
• 5 carrots, cubed
• 3 small turnips cubed
• 3 medium yellow or white potatoes, cubed
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• Salt & pepper to taste

Bring to a boil the water, lamb and onion in a large saucepan and once boiling, reduce heat to simmer. Add the herbs and dried onions and let simmer for forty minutes. Add the carrots, turnips and potatoes and cook on low heat for thirty minutes, or until the vegetables have softened. Removed the lamb shanks and trim the meat off the bones. Discard the bones and add the lamb pieces back into the soup. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper.