Sweet potatoes provide a nice foil for the full-flavored lamb, tangy olives, and earthy spices. You can also bake the entire mixture in an 8-inch square baking dish. Assemble up to a day ahead, cover, refrigerate, and bake just before serving.
I recommend a few alterations/substitution: Scrap the sweet potato with cinnamon for a "russet" and keep it closer to a traditional Shepherd's Pie: Something about the competing flavor of the topping was a bit off. Next, dump the honey: why make a savory dish sweetish? If you have a store with any form of olive bar, scrap the bulk martini olives for pitted kalamata - in bulk a cheaper and much more flavorful choice. And lastly, I'm not 100% sure the effort in transforming a bone-in lamb shoulder was superior to any other lamb stew meat as you're looking here for a the lamb meat as a flavor and enough rendered fat to substitute for any other sautéing oil. Otherwise, a wonderful and filling dish that reheated very well.
We loved this recipe! We're not green olive fans so I added some carrots and sweet red peppers instead. I couldn't find lamb shoulder so I cut up two lamb leg steaks. The lamb was very tender and flavorful so I'd recommend this as an alternative to shoulder. I liked the spice but you could put in a little less cayenne if you like a milder sauce. I'll make this again.
I could not find cubed lamb meat anywhere, even at my favorite Mediterranean market so I used ground lamb. I just skipped the simmering step. I also left out the raisins as I am not a fan of them. My husband loved the uniqueness flavors and presentation of this dish.
I thought that this recipe was delicious and something different.I made them in the individual ramekins which was nice for serving. Followed the recipe exactly and the came out great.
This was very good but a little spicy. I followed the recipe but did not cook the lamb in the sauce as the lamb I used was already cooked so I mixed it in right before putting it in the oven.