Recipe courtesy of Laura Calder
Slow Provencal Lamb
- Level: Intermediate
- Total: 7 hr 5 min
- Prep: 35 min
- Inactive: 3 hr 15 min
- Cook: 3 hr 15 min
- Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 lamb shoulder (about 4 1/2 pounds/2 kg), cut into large chunks
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 onions, peeled and sliced
6 plum tomatoes
About 1 1/2 cups/375 ml red or white wine
1 cup/250 ml veal stock
3 bay leaves
2 branches fresh rosemary
1 pound/450 g eggplant, cut into chunks
1 pound/450 g red peppers, seeded, cut into strips
1 bouquet fresh thyme
1 head garlic, broken into peeled cloves
1 pound/450 zucchini, cut into chunks
Directions
- Heat the oven to 300 degrees F\150 degrees C.
- Sprinkle the lamb generously with salt and pepper. Heat a spoonful or two of the oil in a cocotte (Dutch oven) and brown the meat well on both sides, about 15 minutes per side. Remove the meat.
- Add another spoonful of the oil and cook the onions until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. While the onions are browning, peel, quarter and seed the tomatoes over a sieve set over a bowl to catch the juices. Reserve the tomatoes for later. Pour the juice into a 2 cup/500 ml measuring cup and add enough wine to fill. Deglaze the onions with the veal stock, stirring up the good bits from the bottom. Then add the wine and tomato juice mixture. Add the bay leaves, rosemary, thyme and garlic. Wet a piece of parchment paper and lay it over the meat, cover and bake 1 hour 30 minutes.
- While the lamb cooks, salt the eggplant and set in a colander to drain, about 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry. Meanwhile, roast the red peppers. Once the lamb has cooked 1 hour 30 minutes, add the eggplant, tomatoes and peppers, cover and cook for another 1 hour.
- Increase the heat to 400 degrees F/200 degrees C. Remove the lid and the parchment, add the zucchini and cook a further 45 minutes uncovered.
- For serving: Remove from the oven. Remove the herbs. Spoon the lamb onto plates, with the sauce spooned over.
