It is a crime to post this, because it is covered entirely by the baked beans and stew recipe algorithm posts. But I can't help it, because it came out so good.
Parboil about a pound of dried white beans (I used great northerns) in unsalted water for about 45 min. Pour the beans, a few cloves of garlic, some glugs of olive oil, some sage, and a lamb shank (incredibly cheap if you can find one) into an oven-proof pot. Add enough of the parboiling water to bring it to almost cover (but not quite). Throw it in the oven, covered, for a few hours at 250 F (120 C). Pull the meat off the bone at the end, cut it up and return it to the pot, salt heavily, stir, and serve. I served it with braised cabbage.
Some notes: It takes one heck of a lot of salt, so be prepared to stir it in, taste, and repeat a few times. You also might have to add some water now and then as it cooks, or when you re-heat it the next day. This meal is a trash meal, in the sense that its ingredients are cheap and have little commercial impact. No-one is raising lambs for their shanks! I'm all about that. It is also a meal you can make all winter with locally produced ingredients here in the northeast (except the olive oil, which could be replaced with butter or dropped). Many argue that stew tastes better the next day; I don't disagree.
This has the consistency of cassoulet and is in the same spirit. And it sure ain't rocket science!
That's funny. We had lamb last week too, again based on a Jamie Oliver recipe. A few pounds of shoulder roast, half a bottle of good red wine, a whole head of unpeeled garlic gloves (this is a key flavour), some rosemary, a volume of roughly chopped red onion, carrot and leek about equal to that of the lamb, a can of tomatoes and a pinch of salt per pound of solids. Bring to a boil on the stovetop and then covered in the oven for 4 hours at 250F. Added a drained can of chickpeas near the end. Poured the braising liquid into a saucepan and reduced to a beautiful sauce (only then did I adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper)--this is my approach, not Oliver's. Meanwhile pulled the lamb apart into shreds. Ate with mashed potatoes, but good with egg noodles, polenta,...
ReplyDelete(Ben here...) Hi Hogg. Pretty easy your lamb and beans. It sounds good. Have a merry Christmas.
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