cklablog

Almost three years ago, towards the beginning of my attempt to learn to cook, I had my first and only inedible culinary failure. I tried to make Spoon Lamb (Gigot De Sept Heures), a provinical French dish that was to render a leg of lamb so tender that you could eat it with a spoon.

Roasted for hours in root vegetables, wine and herbs, this lamb would be served in its own sauce over white beans.  What could be better?

Alas, I didn’t read carefully enough to realize that you absolutely had to cover the lamb in foil before you roasted it for six hours. Needless to say, I ended up with Shoe Lamb (Chaussure De Sept Heures).

This week I’ve been reading the Three Musketeers (in order to work up my courage, drunken insouciance and general sense of romantic adventure), and tomorrow, I will revisit my Own Private Waterloo, and this time I will conquer Spoon Lamb.  

I have you in my eye, sir.

Spoon Lamb

5-6 lbs leg of lamb, boned and tied (ask for the bones, and have them sawed into 1 inch pieces)

3 medium onions, each stuck with 2 cloves
3 carrots, split lengthwise
6-7 cloves garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
4-5 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsley chopped
1 cup red wine
chopped parsley (to garnish)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Rub lamb with salt and pepper and place on a rack in a roasting pan
3. Surround with the bones, onions,carrots and 4 to 5 garlic cloves
4. Pour the olive oil over the bones and vegtables
5. Roast at 400 for 30 minutes
6. Reduce heat to 350 and roast for 30 minutes
7. Reduce heat to 200
8. Transfer lamb to baking pan or casserole dish.
9. Add remaining garlic, 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper, tomatoes and bones and vegtables from the roasting pan
10. Rinse roasting pan with the red wine and pour wine over lamb
11. Cover tightly with aluminum foil
12. I repeat, cover tightly with aluminum foil
13. The aluminum foil part is important
14. and roast in a 200 oven for 6 hours
15. Transfer lamb to a platter and remove the strings
16. Discard bones and bay leaf
17. Remove the cloves from the onions and puree or blend all the vegetables
18. Combine with the pan juices
19. Serve meat and sauce with cooked white beans seasoned with salt and pepper garlic and basil
20. Eat with spoon

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 8:55 pm and is filed under Cooking, Three Musketeers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.