Braised Lamb With A Sour Orange Marinade Food

ORANGE BRAISED LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°F.
• In a suitable casserole dish, sweat the diced vegetables in some of the olive oil without browning until tender.
• Add the thyme, bay leaves, garlic, tomato, wine and lamb stock or water, along with most of the orange zest and juice (retain a few pinches of zest and 1 tbsp of juice).
• Bring to the boil and lower to a gentle simmer.
• Heat a little more olive oil in a separate pan and brown the lamb shanks on all sides, seasoning with a little salt and pepper as you go.
• Transfer to the casserole dish and cover with its lid.
• Transfer to the oven and cook for approx 2hours or until the meat is completely tender and coming off the bone.
• Remove the shanks from the pan and keep warm while you finish the sauce.
• Skim off some of the fat that is floating on it. Taste for seasoning and to assess its intensity, boil to reduce if you think it needs it.
• Stir in the reserved juice to refresh the citrus flavour.
• Serve one lamb shank on each warmed plate with a generous amount of sauce spooned over.
• Sprinkle each shank with a little parsley and a pinch of the reserved zest.

BRAISED LAMB WITH A SOUR ORANGE MARINADE

Steps:

• Juice the sour oranges, and combine with the garlic, onion, oregano, bay leaf, and white wine in a large bowl. Place meat into the marinade, cover, and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours.
• In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Place meat into the pan, and sear on all sides. Decrease heat to low. Pour marinade over meat in the pan, and cover. Cook until the meat is fork tender, about 3 hours; add water to the pot if necessary to keep the meat from scorching.

ROAST LEG OF LAMB WITH ORANGE, ROSEMARY AND GARLIC

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450°F.
• Rinse the lamb and pat dry with kitchen towels.
• Peel the orange layer of rind from the orange, into strips about 2cm by 1cm.
• Cut a few of the garlic cloves lengthways into batons about 2mm across.
• Take a strip of orange peel, wrap it around a couple of the garlic batons and a few rosemary leaves. With a very sharp knife, make a deep whole in the lamb and push the parcel into the meat, deep enough so that you can't see it. (Don't be afraid here - the deeper it goes, the more the flavours will infuse).
• Repeat all over the lamb until you've used all the orange peel. Don't forget the underneath.
• Allow to rest for about an hour.
• With the flat of a knife, bash the remaining garlic cloves (unpeeled) and place them in the bottom of a roasting tray. Lay the remaining rosemary sprigs on top, then lay the lamb on these.
• Cut the orange in half and squeeze the juices and flesh over the lamb, rubbing it in, and add the extra orange juice to the pan.
• Pour over a good glug of olive oil, and season well with salt.
• Place, uncovered, in the oven and cook for 20mins.
• Reduce the temperature to about 350F and put a temperature probe into the thickest part of the lamb.
• Check occasionally and, if required, add a little water to the pan.
• Once the internal temperature reaches 130F, remove the lamb from the oven, put on a warmed plate and cover well, with foil and *plenty* of tea towels. Set aside.
• Put the roasting tray on the hob, over a medium heat, and add the red wine and stock cube. You may need to add more water here, depending on how much has evaporated in the oven.
• Reduce until thickened to a gravy consistency. Serve over your lamb, accompanied with roast potatoes and mint sauce.