"best stew ever"

using this as a base: recipe 1 and then the following 2 3 4 5 for inspiration. I enjoyed recipe 1's simpleness. Time was short and i was hungry so off we go.

Ingredients
4 Lamb chops, trimmed deboned and diced (save bones save some fat (dice finely))
2 sebago potatoes (fist size, diced chunky)
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm pieces
5-6 stalks celery, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic (crushed and divided into 2, gives flavour hit)
1 whole onion peeled
750ml reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon italian herbs (when i say teaspoon i mean a good sprinkle)
3 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (when i say 3 teaspoons i mean a very generous portion)
A HEAP of dried parsley
1 teaspoon tarragon (same as italian herb)
1 egg
flour and water

Worthy additions that i did not have around
# 3 large leeks, white part only, halved, washed and thinly sliced (had no leeks but
# 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
# bacon or pork belly slices

Cooking Directions
1. Prepare and combine all ingredients in pot. Add water to cover all ingredients.

A smarter way would be to leave the potatoes out and add them in about 45 minutes into cooking time. However sebago potatoes seem to do well in soups. While cooked all the way through they maintain their shape and texture. The potatoes are somewhat the highlight of this soup. If more care was made in the prepartion of the lamb through seasoning and flavouring, the lamb would have been more prominent.

2. Taste and season
3. Simmer for 1.5hrs on low heat
4. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of flour into water and add to soup in portions. Give time for soup to get thick before the next portion.
5. Repeat step 4 until desired thickness is reached. I do not like it too thick. Watery but not too watery =) I know that doesnt help, do it to your liking.
6. Scramble an egg and add to it, mix through. Why? chinese chefs do it, i like the way it looks.
7. Serve with cracked pepper.

Apparently its super yum as acclaimed by my french roommate, "best soup he's ever had". I think thats A BIT exaggerated, probably qualify that with "... that was not bought at a restaurant". I found it very enjoyable. The more then usual pepper and celery seem to make it very wintery and well the potatoes were very very good. Sebago all the way. Oh also diced up little bits of lamb fat or garlic give surprising boosts to the profile

A surprising success! I'd improve it with leeks, thyme, bacon and less lazy lamb preparation.