Slow Roasted Lamb with Bordeaux Caramel Recipe

By mm_food4me

To offset the decadent lamb, I served this with a saute of spring greens, which included baby artichokes, asparagus, spring onions and fresh chickpeas. Chickpeas, like lamb are an oft misunderstood food. Their other name “garbonzo bean” conjures up memories of all-you-can-eat salad bars with wilting, brown-edged iceberg lettuce, and creamy orange dressings.

Ingredients

• for lamb
• 3-4 lbs lamb shoulder roast
• 6 cloves garlic grated into a paste
• 2 Tbs kosher salt
• 1 Tbs sugar
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• for bordeaux caramel
• 1 Tbs corn syrup
• 1/4 C sugar
• 3/4 C bordeaux wine
• meat caramel from the roast lamb
• 1 Tbs butter
• for spring veggie saute
• olive oil
• 2 spring onions sliced
• 6 baby artichokes trimmed of tough leaves and stems peeled
• 1 C fresh chick peas shelled (or english peas)
• 10 spears asparagus
• lemon juice

Preparation

Step 1

Smear the garlic all over the roast. If your roast has been pre-tied, make sure you get the garlic into all the crevasses. Mix the salt, sugar and pepper together and sprinkle it all over the roast (it should make a thick crust on the outside). Wrap the whole roast tightly in plastic wrap, put it in a bowl, and store it in the refrigerator overnight.

When you’re ready to roast the lamb, unwrap it and place it on a rack on a cookie sheet. Use a sheet of aluminum foil to make a tray just larger than the roast. The idea is to have something under the rack to catch all the juices from the roast so they don’t run all over the cookie sheet and burn.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Roast the lamb for 4-6 hours, or until a fork passes easily through the roast. While the meat is roasting, add the corn syrup and sugar into a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium high heat and let the sugars caramelize until medium brown (about 345 degrees F on a candy thermometer). Remove the pot from the heat then slowly add the wine. The caramel will bubble up and get hard, but this is okay. Put it back on the heat and let it boil until the caramel is melted. Turn off the heat and wait till the roast is done to finish the sauce.

Tip: Because corn syrup contains a different kind of sugar (glucose), it prevents the granulated sugar (sucrose) from crystalizing.

Prepare a large bowl of ice water. Heat a large pot of heavily salted water (it should taste like the sea) to a boil and toss the shelled chickpeas and asparagus in. As soon as the asparagus turns bright green (should take less than a minute), use a slotted spoon to transfer the greens to a the ice bath. Add the trimmed artichoke hearts to the boiling water and cook until you can pass a fork through them. Drain the artichokes as well as the chickpeas and asparagus and set aside.

Remove the roast from the oven and wrap it in a couple layers of foil. The foil tray you made under the roast should have collected all the lamb juices and fat. The juices should have caramelized into a brown crust called fond by now, which should peel up off the foil, leaving the oil behind. Add this caramelized lamb juice into the sauce pan with wine. Put the saucepan over medium high heat and boil until the sauce is very thick (it should almost be chewy). Whisk in the butter to finish.

For the spring veggie saute, heat a frying pan until hot. Add a splash of oil then add the spring onions. Sautee until soft then add the chick peas, asparagus and artichoke. Fry to warm through and season with salt and pepper. Add a splash of lemon juice just before serving.

When you’re ready to serve the slow roast lamb, unwrap it and slice it into 1/2″ pieces. Serve with sauteed vegetables, smashed potatoes and a drizzle of the Bordeaux Caramel.