Slow-braised Lamb
Adapted from BBC Good Food
Delicious and succulent way to cook a leg, shanks or shoulder of lamb
Ingredients
Large Leg of Lamb, shanks or shoulder (~3kg)
6 large Onions, halved
1 bulb of Garlic cloves, peeled
8 large Carrots, cut in half
Zest of one Orange
Juice of 2 Oranges
500ml White or Red Wine
300ml Mutton Stock
4 sprigs Thyme or Rosemary or both
2 tbsp Sherry, Armagnac or Madeira, optional, to finish
Method
Ideally, dry brine the leg overnight in the fridge (heavily salt the entire leg and leave uncovered in the fridge overnight). Remove it from the fridge in the morning to warm up a bit. If you don't have time for dry-brining, just heavily salt the lamb now.
Put your largest lidded casserole on the hob and brown the seasoned whole leg of leg of lamb on all sides - do this very thoroughly until it is a good dark brown as it will not brown during the cooking. (If you don't do it now, it will end up beige.) If the lamb sticks, add a drizzle of oil - legs of lamb differ. Allow 10 mins on a high heat. Remove the lamb.
Throw in the vegetables and fry on high heat for 5 minutes.
Add the wine and stock and bring to the boil.
Place the lamb back in the casserole and put on the lid.
Last time we cooked as in (7) below, however next time, try 4 hours at 160°C.
Place in the oven at 120°C and bake for 7 hrs, turning twice (after 5 hrs the meat will be cooked and should offer no resistance to the knife).
Transfer the meat and vegetables to a serving dish.
Pour the liquid into a pan then boil the liquid on high heat to reduce by a half to a quarter, by which time it will be rich and flavoursome. Adjust seasoning, add the Sherry, Armagnac or Madeira if you wish.
Pull the lamb apart with a couple of spoons and pour over some of the sauce.