Slow-cooked lamb with shallots, fennel and broad beans
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- over 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 6
- Dietary
- Dairy-freeEgg-freeNut-free
Spring in a dish – slow cooked tender lamb is paired with sweet, braised fennel, shallots and broad beans.
Ingredients
- 1 whole lamb shoulder (about 2kg/4lb 8oz), trimmed of excess fat
- 4 garlic cloves, each cut into 3 slices
- 3 tbsp light olive oil
- 12 echalion shallots, peeled with the roots kept intact
- 1 fennel bulb, thickly sliced
- 300ml/10fl oz dry white wine
- 500ml/18fl oz chicken stock
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp pastis (or 2 tsp toasted fennel seeds)
- 150g/5½oz broad beans, double podded
- 75g/2½oz anchovies preserved in salt, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
Using a small sharp knife, make 12 little slits around the lamb and push a garlic slice into each one. Season the lamb liberally with salt and pepper all over.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then sear the lamb until deep brown on all sides. Transfer to a snug lidded casserole dish.
Cook the shallots and fennel slices in the same frying pan until slightly coloured, this will take 3-5 minutes, then add the wine and bubble away the alcohol.
Add the stock, thyme, vinegar and bay leaves, simmer for a couple of minutes, then pour over the lamb.
Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook in the oven for 3 hours or so, turning after 1½ hours and adding a little more stock if needed. The lamb should be tender, but not completely soft.
Leave to rest for 20 minutes. Spoon off any fat that has risen to the surface.
Remove the bones, they should pull out easily, then break the meat into chunks and pile in the middle of a warmed serving dish. Arrange the shallots and fennel around the lamb.
Put the juices in a wide saucepan over a high heat and add the pastis. Bring back to the boil, if necessary, to reduce to about 500ml/18fl oz.
Add the broad beans, anchovies, parsley and mustard, then simmer gently for 2 minutes, until the beans are cooked.
Taste and adjust the seasoning, then pour the beans and juices over the lamb and serve hot.
