Spoon lamb - master recipe

8 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
7 pounds Leg of lamb
2 tablespoons Vegetable oil
2 Large onions; sliced
2 cups Dry white wine
2 ounces Pancetta; chopped
3 Cloves garlic; sliced
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Black pepper
4 cups Lamb stock (see notes); boiling

Directions

Trim off all but a thin layer of fat from the lamb and remove any loose fat. Do not remove the fell, a papery-looking filament that covers the meat.

Heat oil in a heavy saute pan and brown lamb slowly on all sides, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325F. Remove lamb to a platter and saute onion for 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to platter. Discard fat in pan. Add wine and boil rapidly until reduced by half, scraping up any browned bits.

Scatter chopped pancetta in the bottom of an unglazed clay pot or other casserole just large enough to hold the lamb. Add lamb, fat side up, and surround with the onions. Add shank bone, if the butcher separated it from the leg, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in enough stock to reach two-thirds of the way up sides of meat. Cover tightly with lid and place in oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes per pound, turning meat halfway through cooking time, about 3-3½ hours total.

Place lamb in a deep, heated platter. Strain and degrease the cooking liquid; there will be approximately 8 cups of good lamb stock. Pour off 2 cups into a saucepan, boil hard to reduce by half, correct seasoning, and pour into a sauce boat.

Chill remaining stock, which will gel.

This recipe serves 4 with plenty for the "WEEKEND COOK" leftovers, or will serve 8 nicely.

NOTES : This is a recipe from Alexander Dumas' "Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine" (not nearly so well-known as his "The Three Muskateers"). This long-cooking leg of lamb is historically called "Spoon Lamb" by the French because you can cut it with a spoon! You can make the initial lamb stock from bullion cubes, or use water/chicken stock/white wine in whatever proportions you wish. (Not *all* wine though.) Recipe by: SF Chronicle; 10/25/95 - WEEKEND COOK Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #981 by Judi Moseley <judi@...> on Jan 4, 1998

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