Giada De Laurentiis’ Lamb and Red Wine Stew Is a Show-Stopping Valentine’s Day Dinner

Giada De Laurentiis‘ lamb stew recipe is the ultimate Valentine’s Day meal. It’s sophisticated and elegant but doesn’t take all day to prepare. And it’s a meal even those just learning to cook can tackle.

Whether you make it for yourself or someone dear to your heart, enjoy this cozy, satisfying stew from the popular Food Network chef.

De Laurentiis’ uncomplicated stew stars lamb but red wine is in a strong supporting role

It’s easy to see why De Laurentiis loves this meal so much. The wine alone intensifies the flavors of the rest of the ingredients. The best part? If you’re making it for someone else, it looks like you spent all day in the kitchen.

For this recipe, De Laurentiis calls for cubed lamb meat, diced carrots, celery, and onion, “smashed” garlic, flour, tomato paste, dry red wine, low-sodium beef broth, a bay leaf, fresh thyme and parsley, and green Cerignola olives, “smashed and pits removed.”

The olives are not put in until after the stew has simmered for one hour. At that point, they’re added and the dish continues to simmer for another half an hour.

Get the full recipe on Food Network’s site.

The chef’s dish is one of her favorites for a winter meal

The beauty of this dish is that once you’ve got most of the ingredients in a pot, the stew can then simmer, allowing all of the distinct flavors to meld together. It’s a wonderful one-pot meal.

Bottom line? It hits the spot on cold evenings, as the chef wrote in her lifestyle and food blog Giadzy.

“On a brisk night, this is exactly the kind of hearty, cozy stew I look forward to eating,” she wrote. “Not only is this stew loaded with pieces of fall-apart tender lamb, but carrots, celery, onion, and garlic give it tons of heft as well. With red wine, tomato, and fresh thyme, it gets some seriously big, vibrant flavor as well!”

The Simply Giada star suggests serving the meal with crusty bread or a creamy mound of mashed potatoes, “to soak up all that flavorful sauce.”

Reviewers fell in love with De Laurentiis’ stew

One home cook compared the chef’s stew with a famous dish of Julia Child’s: “This was very rich and had a flavor reminiscent of Julia Child’s Coq au Vin, but much easier to make.”

A few of the dish’s reviewers opted for beef cubes instead of lamb but enjoyed the dish nonetheless.

“We don’t eat lamb so used beef, added some small potatoes, and did large vertically sliced onions instead of chopped.  My ‘go-to’ now for beef stew and I have been making stew for over 50 years!,” one wrote.

Another said, “Oh this is SO good. I served over mashed potatoes and it was great. Thanks Giada.”