Slow-Cooked Lamb a la Jean-Christophe Poizat

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb

olive oil

6 (or more!) garlic cloves, peeled

1-2 onions, quartered

sprigs of fresh thyme

1 bottle dry white wine

Directions

Thanks to Jean-Christophe Poizat of Maison Vauron who described this dish to our French Food Discovery Tour group.  Our family has made and enjoyed it many times!




You will need a heavy roasting dish or casserole dish with a lid large enough to hold the leg of lamb that can be used on the stove-top and then placed in the oven.  If you do not have such a dish, then do the initial browning in a heavy frying pan and transfer to a roasting dish.

Preheat oven to 160C, NOT fanbake.

Heat some olive oil in the roasting dish on the stove and brown the leg of lamb on all sides. Take off the heat.  Transfer the lamb to the oven dish (if required). Season the lamb with some sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Add garlic cloves and quartered onions around the lamb in the dish.  Pour the bottle of white wine into the dish.  Top lamb with sprigs of fresh thyme.

Place heavy lid on dish.  If the lid is not heavy, seal the dish first with aluminium foil, then place the lid on top.

Place dish in oven and let it bake undisturbed for at least 4 hours, preferably 5 hours.

When ready to eat, take lamb out of dish and place on warm serving dish.  Cover and set aside to rest for a few minutes.

Strain roasting juices from dish and skim off any fat.  Slice or shred lamb into chunks.  The meat will be very tender.  Drizzle some of the roasting juices on the lamb or serve separately in a jug.

The French traditionally serve this dish with haricot beans, but roasted or mashed potatoes are equally delicious.  A fresh green salad or some steamed greens are all that is needed to accompany the lamb.