Slow – cooked leg of lamb with mustard sauce
Instructions:
- This is one of my favorite ways of cooking leg of lamb. Slow-cooking
meat gives you more control over the flavors than pan-searing or roasting—
you can baste it repeatedly, or slowly build up a delicious crust. And
the result is meat so moist and tender that it almost falls off the bone, with
a richness of flavor that quick-cooking simply cannot achieve.
- For the lamb
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup pitted brined-cured black olives, coarsely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 5- to 6-pound leg of lamb (ask your butcher to remove the hip bone)
- For the mustard sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1/2 cup Chicken Stock
- 11/2 teaspoons mustard seeds
- 2 cloves
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon grainy mustard
- Prepare the lamb :
- Preheat the oven to 275 F.
- Mix the oil and mustard in a small bowl. Stir in the olives, garlic, thyme, and salt. Rub the mustard mixture all over the lamb. Place the lamb in a roasting pan and roast for 6 hours, or until the meat almost falls off the bone.
- Increase the oven temperature to 425F and roast for another 20 minutes, or until a crisp crust forms. Transfer the lamb to a cutting board, cover loosely with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Prepare the sauce :
- Add the water to the roasting pan to deglaze, scraping up the browned bits in the bottom of the pan. Transfer 1/2 cup of the pan juices to a small saucepan, add the red wine, stock, mustard seeds, cloves, and thyme, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes, or until reduced by half.
- Strain the sauce into another saucepan, and keep warm over low heat. Just before serving, whisk in the butter and mustard.
- To serve, carve the lamb and transfer to serving plates. Spoon some of the sauce over the meat, and pass the remaining sauce at the table.