Description
Celery is a much-maligned vegetable. When cooked for this long, it becomes soft, buttery and delicious and goes really well with lamb. There's plenty of rosemary in this, too - one of lamb's natural accompaniments.
Ingredients
For the marinade
4 cloves garlic
salt and freshly ground black pepper
leaves from sprig of rosemary, chopped
For the stock
chicken carcass (or some chicken bones from the butcher)
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 bulb fennel, roughly chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig rosemary
1 bay leaf
5 whole black peppercorns
For the lamb
1 shoulder of lamb, bone removed
3 tbsp good-quality rapeseed oil or olive oil
2 celery hearts, roughly chopped
4 carrots, cut into batons
1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced
4 shallots, sliced
1½ glasses dry white wine
1 sprig thyme
2 bay leaves
Method
1. Make the marinade. Crush the garlic with a little salt in a pestle and mortar until you have a smooth paste. Add the rosemary leaves to the garlic and crush a little more. Spread the paste all over the inside of the meat, roll up and tie with kitchen string. Cover and put to one side for a couple of hours.
2. Open out the lamb joint and trim off excess fat and skin. Leave a little as this is what keeps the meat moist through the long cooking process.
3. For the stock, place all the ingredients into a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Over a very low heat, gently bring the water to a simmer, skimming any scum from the top of the liquid as you go. Continue simmering and skimming for 2 hours. Strain the liquid and throw away the vegetables.
4. For the lamb, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large pan. Add the celery, carrots, fennel and shallots. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and sweat them vigorously over quite a high heat, until the vegetables start to take on a bit of colour.
5. Season the lamb. Remove the vegetables from the pan, then sear the lamb over a high heat, colouring it on all sides.
6. Return the vegetables to the pan, turn up the heat until the ingredients start to sizzle, then add the wine (keeping your face and hands out of the way in case the alcohol ignites). When the alcohol has steamed off, add the herbs and just enough of the chicken stock to cover the lamb. Turn the heat down as low as you possibly can, cover with damp parchment paper and a close-fitting lid and cook for at least 3 hours, turning the lamb twice.
7. When the lamb is very tender - it should be falling apart - remove from the pan to a large serving dish. Strain the vegetables from the juice in the pan, reserving the juice as you do. Arrange them around the lamb, cover with kitchen foil and put the dish somewhere warm.
8. Put the juice back into the pan and add the remaining chicken stock. Reduce this liquid over a high heat until it starts to thicken and resemble a thin gravy. Check the gravy for seasoning - it should have a lovely, quite intense flavour.
9. Slice the lamb, taking care to remove all the bits of string. Return it to the serving dish, pour the hot gravy over the meat and vegetables and serve.
