Braised lamb shoulder with white beans
This dish is both festive and comforting:
Succulent, fork-tender (if not spoon-tender) meat and beans give it a homey
heartiness, while the complexity and intensity of the broth and the clean bright
kick from the gremolata constantly remind you that it's something special.
I served this at an informal family reunion (brothers, sister-in-law, and a couple of friends) and everyone loved it.
It served six with leftovers. A side dish (kale) was superfluous. This is a full meal.
I served this at an informal family reunion (brothers, sister-in-law, and a couple of friends) and everyone loved it.
It served six with leftovers. A side dish (kale) was superfluous. This is a full meal.
MEAT:
lamb shoulder — 3 lbs. (deboned, rolled up, and tied)
olive oil — 1/4 c
(A note about the meat: I'd never used this cut of meat before, but rock-star butcher Anthony at Café Rouge Meat Market set me up and I for one am glad he did. Café Rouge, its thunderingly talented butchers, and its many meats will definitely get their own entry sometime soon. That having been said, I doubt that this particular preparation is going to be widely available outside really top-notch butcher shops, so allow me to encourage those who can't find it to use boneless leg instead.)
BROTH:
onion — 2 (sliced)
leek — 2 (just the white and pale green parts, sliced)
carrot — 2 (sliced)
celery — 2 stalks (sliced)
garlic — 3 cloves (halved)
red wine — 2 c
low-sodium canned beef stock — 2 c
bay — 2 leaves
tarragon — 1 bunch
dried tomatoes — 2 T (chopped)
garlic — 1 head (trimmed; oiled; wrapped in foil)
canned tomatoes — 28 oz.
cannelini — 3 14-oz cans (drained)
GREMOLATA:
lemon zest — 1 lemon's worth
parsley — 1 bunch (just the top leaves, not the bottom stems)
garlic — 2 cloves
1. Season the meat a day in advance. Use 3/4 scant teaspoon of kosher salt per pound. Use your judgment with the pepper. Refrigerate under plastic wrap.
2. Take the meat out and rub it down with a paper towel; let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
3. Heat the oil over medium heat in and brown the lamb on all sides (this will take about half an hour in total). Set aside in a large casserole or brazier (this is the cooking vessel for the braising step).
4. Spoon out some of the accumulated fat, leaving behind any crystallization from the meat. Leave about 1/4 cup of fat.
5. Add the vegetables, salt lightly, and cook for 10 min or so, until they have given off liquid and gotten the barest amount of color.
6. Add the wine, stock, bay, half of the tarragon and the dried tomatoes. Bring to a boil and cook off the alcohol (about 10 min).
7. Pour the broth around the lamb, cover tightly with a lid or foil, and place in a 325°F oven for 2-3 hours. (I went for three hours and it was totally fine.) During the last hour, roast the head of garlic.
8. Carefully remove the lamb from the broth and place on a baking pan or other oven-safe dish. Wrap with foil and put back in the oven at "warm". Leave the roasted garlic head out to cool.
9. Strain the solids out of the broth and discard.
10. Combine the strained broth and tomatoes (with their juice). Reduce until the flavors have married and the broth has thickened somewhat (Watch the saltiness; I stop when the broth is salty enough for my taste, which means it's still quite thin.)
11. Add the beans, the skinned cloves of roasted garlic (left whole), and the rest of the tarragon. Heat through.
12. While the beans are warming up, make the gremolata: Combine the parsley, lemon zest and garlic in a food processor, and pulse until combined.
13. Place the lamb on a cutting board, untie the trussing string, and cut into six roughly equally sized pieces:
(Equality of portion size is a fantasy with the rolled shoulder; some pieces are just going to be bigger than others.)
14. Plate in restaurant-style pasta bowls: A generous slotted spoonful of beans, tomatoes and garlic; a serving of lamb, a generous ladleful of broth, and a couple of tablespoons of gremolata to top it all off:
15. Serve with plenty of crusty bread to sop up the remaining broth. Champagne not included but highly recommended to sustain one's guests through the long waiting period before dinner that resulted from one forgetting to start the meat on time. Your run-of-the-mill Huge Red™ will serve admirably during the meal itself.
lamb shoulder — 3 lbs. (deboned, rolled up, and tied)
olive oil — 1/4 c
(A note about the meat: I'd never used this cut of meat before, but rock-star butcher Anthony at Café Rouge Meat Market set me up and I for one am glad he did. Café Rouge, its thunderingly talented butchers, and its many meats will definitely get their own entry sometime soon. That having been said, I doubt that this particular preparation is going to be widely available outside really top-notch butcher shops, so allow me to encourage those who can't find it to use boneless leg instead.)
BROTH:
onion — 2 (sliced)
leek — 2 (just the white and pale green parts, sliced)
carrot — 2 (sliced)
celery — 2 stalks (sliced)
garlic — 3 cloves (halved)
red wine — 2 c
low-sodium canned beef stock — 2 c
bay — 2 leaves
tarragon — 1 bunch
dried tomatoes — 2 T (chopped)
garlic — 1 head (trimmed; oiled; wrapped in foil)
canned tomatoes — 28 oz.
cannelini — 3 14-oz cans (drained)
GREMOLATA:
lemon zest — 1 lemon's worth
parsley — 1 bunch (just the top leaves, not the bottom stems)
garlic — 2 cloves
1. Season the meat a day in advance. Use 3/4 scant teaspoon of kosher salt per pound. Use your judgment with the pepper. Refrigerate under plastic wrap.
2. Take the meat out and rub it down with a paper towel; let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
3. Heat the oil over medium heat in and brown the lamb on all sides (this will take about half an hour in total). Set aside in a large casserole or brazier (this is the cooking vessel for the braising step).
4. Spoon out some of the accumulated fat, leaving behind any crystallization from the meat. Leave about 1/4 cup of fat.
5. Add the vegetables, salt lightly, and cook for 10 min or so, until they have given off liquid and gotten the barest amount of color.
6. Add the wine, stock, bay, half of the tarragon and the dried tomatoes. Bring to a boil and cook off the alcohol (about 10 min).
7. Pour the broth around the lamb, cover tightly with a lid or foil, and place in a 325°F oven for 2-3 hours. (I went for three hours and it was totally fine.) During the last hour, roast the head of garlic.
8. Carefully remove the lamb from the broth and place on a baking pan or other oven-safe dish. Wrap with foil and put back in the oven at "warm". Leave the roasted garlic head out to cool.
9. Strain the solids out of the broth and discard.
10. Combine the strained broth and tomatoes (with their juice). Reduce until the flavors have married and the broth has thickened somewhat (Watch the saltiness; I stop when the broth is salty enough for my taste, which means it's still quite thin.)
11. Add the beans, the skinned cloves of roasted garlic (left whole), and the rest of the tarragon. Heat through.
12. While the beans are warming up, make the gremolata: Combine the parsley, lemon zest and garlic in a food processor, and pulse until combined.
13. Place the lamb on a cutting board, untie the trussing string, and cut into six roughly equally sized pieces:
(Equality of portion size is a fantasy with the rolled shoulder; some pieces are just going to be bigger than others.)
14. Plate in restaurant-style pasta bowls: A generous slotted spoonful of beans, tomatoes and garlic; a serving of lamb, a generous ladleful of broth, and a couple of tablespoons of gremolata to top it all off:
15. Serve with plenty of crusty bread to sop up the remaining broth. Champagne not included but highly recommended to sustain one's guests through the long waiting period before dinner that resulted from one forgetting to start the meat on time. Your run-of-the-mill Huge Red™ will serve admirably during the meal itself.
Posted: Thu - February 3, 2005 at 09:24 AM
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Published On: Jul 23, 2006 02:49 PM
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Published On: Jul 23, 2006 02:49 PM