Auvergnese Seven-Hour Leg Of Lamb
- Total Time
- About 7 hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1leg of lamb, bone in, 6 to 7 pounds, carefully trimmed of excess fat
- 1large, whole head garlic, cloves peeled and halved
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 6onions, peeled and quartered
- 6carrots, peeled and quartered
- 6bay leaves
- 1bunch fresh thyme or several teaspoons dried
- 2bottles dry white wine, such as a French Riesling
- 5pounds large boiling potatoes
- 5tomatoes, cored, peeled, seeded and chopped
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Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Step 2
Pierce the skin of the lamb and insert the cloves of garlic, distributing evenly throughout. Season with salt and pepper.
- Step 3
Layer the onions, carrots, bay leaves and thyme on the bottom of a large Dutch oven or covered roaster large enough to hold the lamb. Place the lamb on top and roast in the oven, uncovered, for one hour.
- Step 4
Remove the pan from the oven and slowly add the wine. Cover, place over high heat on top of the stove and bring the liquid to a boil. Return the pan, covered, to the oven, reduce the heat to 350 degrees and roast the lamb, turning from time to time, until it is very tender and actually falling off the bone. This should generally take two to three hours more.
- Step 5
One hour before serving, bury the potatoes and tomatoes in the liquid, cover and roast until cooked through. The lamb should be very moist. As the French say, you should be able to eat it with a spoon. Much of the liquid will have cooked away, but what remains will be sweet and flavorful.
- Step 6
Carefully remove the lamb from the pan, cut the meat into thin slices and serve, surrounded with vegetables and the remaining cooking liquid.
- Wine recommendation: A young red Cotes-du-Rhone, such as Cru du Coudelet.
Private Notes
Comments
I have no idea WHY they changed the cooking time 2-3 hours and didn't adjust the liquid. I cut the wine by 25% and that was not enough. The original recipe does call for 5-7 hours of cook time so that much wine would make sense in the oven. Someone also changed the wine from a dry one to a sweet Riesling. Switch to a white bordeaux or aligote. Makes me think this version was not even tested. Google the original and use that version NOT This one
Cooked this using original recipe, with dry white wine and eight pound leg of lamb at 425. The dry white worked well. Lamb falling off the bone after about four to five hours, with most wine evaporated. Reduced temperature to 300-350 and added two additional bottles and cooking for two additional hours. Delicious result.
Tomatoes don't have to be cored, peeled, seeded/ Just cut them to four and into the pot.
Oh and you can't slice meat that is falling off the bone. Just cut nice chunks off. After refrigerating overnight, you can remove a lot of the fat on the surface. A lovely, intense sauce remains after you finish roasting.
I have LOVED this dish since 1988 when I got the recipe from the Times magazine. My tips - the key ingredient is Alsatian Riesling (I use dry Washington St) with a distinct flavor. 6 bay leaves are not nearly enough - I strip branches from our deck bay tree. After roasting 1 hr, I add only one bottle of wine and cover lightly with foil. I continue to add more wine as needed and roast at least 3 more hours. I refrigerate overnight and add the potatoes and tomatoes for the last hour or two at 400.
The potatoes should be peeled and quartered. This instruction is in her recipe on her Bistro Cooking book and was omitted here.
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