OF course, our lamb is so fine, so sweet, so succulent, that it needs next to no cooking and certainly no fiddling around with. A few sprigs of rosemary and some shards of garlic shoved into the leg before roasting, perhaps, and all we need to do with some lamb cutlets is to brush them with oil and season them, then shove them on the grill pan so good, so simple, the fail safe meal for a special Easter dinner.
But, maybe, we tend to eat our lamb this way all the time, so let's do something different. The tradition of long simmered lamb stews, with many competing and contrasting flavours along with the meat, has more of a hold in Europe than here but it is a technique to be savoured. Forget that hallowed pinkness this is lamb to be cooked to melt in your mouth tenderness. The slowness of preparation also means that you need only make occasional trips to the kitchen to check that everything is hunky dory.
This first recipe is an Italian one and I am grateful to Jean McIntyre for it.
Leg of Lamb Abruzzese
11/2 lbs onions roughly chopped chopped
3 large red peppers, cut in finger length strips
2 large red chillis, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
5lb leg of lamb
50ml (2 fl oz) olive oil
3 level tablespoons dried oregano
1 bottle dry white wine
3 cans of whole tomatoes
Pre heat the oven to gas mark 3. Season the lamb with salt and pepper. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large, deep, oven proof dish. Brown the lamb in the oil take out and set aside. Heat the rest of the oil in the dish and fry the onions, peppers, chillis, garlic and oregano over a medium heat for about five minutes. Add the wine and the tomatoes and boil vigorously for 10 minutes. Place the lamb on the vegetables in the dish. Baste the lamb and cover the dish. Cook at 170C (32ST, gas mark 3) for four hours. Uncover the dish and cook for a further hour. Serve with polenta or mashed potatoes.
And here is a Spanish riposte to the traditional stew, from a thoughtful book called The Spanish Table by Marimar Torres (Ebury Press).
Lamb Stew Shepherd Style
1.4 to 1.6kg (3 to 31/2 lb) boneless lamb, cut into 5cm (2 inch) pieces
For the Marinade
6 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 bay leaves, middle vein removed, crumbled
1 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper flakes
125ml (4 fl oz) sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
50ml (2 fl oz) dry white wine
1 teaspoon salt
For The Lamb
3 tablespoons olive oil
225ml (8 fl oz) dry white wine
About 900ml (11/2 pints) meat stock (Marimar Torres suggests veal stock)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
To prepare the marinade Place the lamb pieces in a non metallic casserole or bowl. Puree all the ingredients for the marinade in a food processor or blender. Toss with the lamb and cover. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours or as long as three days, turning the lamb pieces in the marinade once in a while. Remove the lamb from the refrigerator two hours before cooking.
To prepare the lamb Heat the oil in a large heavy, frying pan. Over a medium to high heat, quickly brown the lamb pieces lightly, in small batches do not wipe the marinade from the meat. Reserve the marinade left in the bowl.
Transfer the lamb to a flameproof casserole. Pour the wine into the frying pan and deglaze cook rapidly and reduce by half. Transfer to the casserole. Add the stock and reserved marinade and bring to the boil. Immediately reduce the heat to very low and simmer, covered, for 11/2 hours or until the lamb is very tender. Cheek periodically to make sure the stew doesn't boil, just simmers.
Transfer the lamb to a heated, serving platter and keep warm. Cook the sauce over a high heat until reduced by half or to desired consistency. Taste for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the lamb and serve.
Of course, the succulent accompaniment of creamy, golden polenta will suit either of these stews but I would propose this next recipe as a knock emdead companion. It is simplicity itself, it also goes well with roast chicken and grilled meats and the only care needed is to ensure the chopping of the herbs and garlic is fine, as they are simply added at the last minute.
This is a smashing recipe which has become a mainstay of my kitchen repertoire ever since I discovered it, years back, in a great big book called The Italian Academy of Cookery, Cookery Book.
Potatoes with Sage and Rosemary
600g (11/2 lbs) potatoes
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
50g (2 oz) butter
5-6 fresh sage leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig parsley
1 teaspoon salt Freshly ground pepper 1 clove garlic, crushed
Peel, rinse and dice the potatoes. Dry in a teacloth and sautee in a flameproof casserole with the oil and butter. When they are golden brown, transfer to a moderate oven at 180C (350T, mark 5) for 20 minutes or until tender. Finely chop the sage, rosemary and parsley. Mix with the salt, pepper and crushed garlic. Toss the hot potatoes in this mixture and serve.
Aubergine Potatoes
This final idea is an adaptation from the potato recipes given in The Union Square Cafe Cookbook by Danny Meyer and Michael Romano. Messrs Meyer and Romano like to flavour their purees of spud with flavours such as fennel, roast tomato, basil and so on, and I have slightly revised their dish of potato with aubergine, simply because aubergine is such a sweetheart flavour with lamb.
The principle here is simple make a smooth, voluptuous puree of potato use a food mill and not a food processor, and mash is not the same and then beat in the volume of aubergine you want. Personally, I like the aubergine flavour to be prominent, which would work out at something like one pound of aubergine to two pounds of potato. If you want more potato and less aubergine, then don't fold in as much of the latter.
When buying the aubergines, try to avoid those grown by our Dutch friends, which have an alarming habit, when roasted, of almost disappearing into nothingness.
2lbs potatoes
1 lb aubergine
Milk (about 50ml, 2 fl oz, depending on your spud)
Generous knob of butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
Half an inch of fresh ginger, finely chopped
Light soy sauce
Cayenne pepper
Lemon juice
In a hot oven, roast the aubergine until tender. Remove and allow to cool then scoop out the flesh and chop it roughly. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the garlic and ginger for a minute. Add the aubergine and sprinkle in a pinch of cayenne and a few dashes of soy, turning everything over on the heat. Transfer to a food processor and puree, adding a trickle of olive oil if necessary to give you a slurpy puree. Cheek the taste and, if it needs a little sharpness, add a few drops of lemon juice.
Boil the potatoes and puree them in a food mill, then beat in just enough hot milk and butter to give a smooth mass. Warm the aubergine puree, then fold it into the potato stopping when you have reached the desired mixture of ingredients.
After all that whirring and beating, you need a drink.