Is it any wonder so many of us writer-types who sit behind a keyboard most of the day are at risk of becoming a little… erm… husky? For a start, there’s the “sit behind a keyboard most of the day” part of the job. My fingers run a goddamned marathon between 9 and 5. Who am I kidding? Between 9 and midnight. But the legs? Not so much.
And then there’s the whole “home office” thing. Because “home office” also means the “home pantry” and the “home fridge,” with all their myriad temptations, are just a short stroll away from the desk. So when I’m grappling with some plot hole or other in my novel, or a character slip-up in my script, there’s way too many food-based distractions sitting within easy reach.
Not to mention, I love cooking. Bloody adore it. And whipping up a nice meal for the family is, for me – thank goodness – a delightful leisure activity. Not to mention, a brilliant distraction from what I should be doing.
The train of thought goes a little something like this…
**Why on earth would he tell her something like that? it’s too out of character. Nobody’s going to believe it… **
**…but if that little clue nugget isn’t seeded right there, then the next scene makes no sense at all…**
**… and then when I unpick that thread, the whole damned thing falls apart…**
**… Oh, can’t forget there’s that leg of lamb in the fridge I’ve got to do something with in the next couple of days…**
Et voilà! Instead of working through aforementioned plot snafu, I find myself chopping veggies and searing lamb for a slow-cooked lamb dinner.
Totally worth it for an autumnal delight. OK, I’m in Australia where it’s spring (and with spectacular local lamb as a result!), but the evenings are still brisk and it works a treat any time it’s not stinking hot outside.
Ungarnished, unedited photo below. Plus a recipe for what is, if you have time spare to just sit and wait, the easiest and most crowd-pleasingest dish you’ll ever make. It’s easy and super quick to get in the oven, but you do need to leave it for four hours. And I do literally mean “leave it.” No basting, no supervision. It just sits there and cooks. But there’s no rushing it. This is not a meal for a spontaneous dinner date.
Secret is – don’t skimp on the good vinegars. I’ve picked a few below, but swap in as you see fit. You want a lovely sweety sour taste to the liquid when you put it in the oven. And it will be super thin at the start. But by the end, it’ll boil down to a delightfully thick and tasty gravy you just season to taste.
It’s a pretty free-form recipe, because it can work with whatever you have on hand. But, yes. You do need an entire bottle of alcohol – preferably a shiraz or cabernet sauvignon. Really. Just go a cheapo – cleanskin. Or when I don’t have a cheapo bottle of red wine in the pantry, I have used a bottle of white wine instead, and even cheap prosecco. Oh, and went a couple of cans of apple cider another time! They all worked well!
If you try this out, let me know in the comments!
Now, back to the keyboard for me!
SLOW-COOKED LAMB
START WITH THE FOLLOWING:
- Whole leg of lamb on the bone
- 1 carrot peeled and cut in small chunks
- 2 sticks of celery sliced up
- Some of the green celery fronds – can also use the celery base provided you separate the pieces out
- 1 onion peeled and chopped in chunks
- 2-4 garlic cloves – don’t peel them, just bruise them with the flat of a knife to let the flavours out. Or, if you want to make a very garlicky dish, use up it to 6 cloves of garlic, and peel then bruise them.
- Couple of sprigs each of fresh oregano and thyme
- Handful of parsley, including the stems
- Olive oil
- Peppercorns
- 4 bay-leaves
- 1 bottle of (preferably) red wine, but equivalent of any (non-spirit!) alcohol will do
- 1/2 cup of sweet sherry (optional)
- 1/2 cup of combined vinegars – whatever you have is fine, but make sure they’re nice wine vinegars rather than just fish and chip-style white vinegar! I use combos of: red wine, apple, sherry, chardonnay, and balsamic vinegars
HOW TO DO IT:
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
- Season lamb all over with generous amount of sea salt and pepper.
- Heat a lidded heavy casserole dish/French oven for a good 5 minutes on the stove on a high heat, then add a dash of olive oil. Put the meat in the dish – it should really sizzle. Cook on all sides until it’s really nice and crunchy brown.
- Remove meat from pan. If it’s left a fair amount of fat in the pan, pour that off and add a dash of fresh olive oil.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion, carrot and celery, plus the fresh herbs, peppercorns, and bay leaves and cook, stirring for a few minutes – till they start to soften. Stir them so they wilt but you don’t want them browning.
- Put the meat back in the pan, then add the liquids. The total liquid should come approx. half to two-thirds the way up the meat. If there’s not enough, just add some stock (made up from stock powder and water). Taste, and adjust the various sauces if you think it needs more.
- Important note – because the flavours will all develop and condense, don’t season with salt yet. There’s already salt on the meat. So wait till the very end to finish the seasoning.
- Bring liquids to a boil, then put the lid on. Pop it in the oven. And wait. 4 hours. But it’s worth it.
- When the time’s up, the meat should be super tender. Remove meat from the pan, and put it, covered in foil, in a tray with sides (liquids will come off it). Rest somewhere warm.
- Drain the remaining liquid from the casserole into a jug, pressing down on the veg in the strainer to get all they yummy sauce out.
- Pour the sauce back in the casserole, and heat over medium heat on the stove until it reduces and gets thicker. Taste, and season – you’ll also probably want to add spices and more dashes of vinegar at this stage.
- Put the lamb on a platter with some fresh herbs (parsley, oregano, rosemary) as garnish and break the meat up a little with a fork to make it easier for people to serve themselves. Serve the gravy on the side if you like, or pour over the meat if you’re pretty sure everyone will want gravy!
- Serve with roast potatoes, slow-roast tomatoes and nice, crisp pan-seared greens like asparagus or broccoli.
