Maman Blancs Slow Cooked Lamb Food

SLOW-COOKED LAMB SHOULDER

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 130C/275F/Gas 1.
• In a bowl combine the onions, potatoes and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
• Layer the potatoes and onions in a roasting tin and place the lamb on top skin-side up.
• Cut small incisions in the lamb using a small knife and stick the whole garlic cloves in the holes, pushing them into the meat to prevent them burning while the meat cooks.
• Pour the chicken stock over and place in the oven for 4-5 hours, or until the potatoes are crisp on top and soft inside.
• When cooked, remove the lamb from the oven, cover with aluminium foil and set aside to rest for 20 minutes.
• Serve with French beans (or any green vegetable of your choice).

MAMAN BLANC'S SLOW-COOKED LAMB

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 140°C/fan120°C/gas. Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large, heavy-based casserole. Add the lamb and cook until browned all over. Mix the garlic and thyme with the sea salt and black pepper, stir into the casserole and fry over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes.
• Pour the stock over the lamb, cover with a lid and place in the oven for 2 hours until the meat is very tender.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a frying pan, add the peeled shallots, celery and carrots, and cook until golden. Remove the lamb from the pan and set aside to keep warm.
• Add the browned shallots, celery and carrots to the stock, place over a low heat and simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered. Return the lamb to the pan and heat through. Serve with creamy mashed potato.

SLOW COOKED LEG OF LAMB

Steps:

• Heat oven to 120C/fan 100C/gas ½. Put your largest lidded casserole on the hob and brown the seasoned leg of lamb on all sides - do this very thoroughly until it is a good dark brown as it will not brown during the cooking. (If you don't do it now, it will end up beige.) If the lamb sticks, add a drizzle of oil - legs of lamb differ. Allow 10 mins on a high heat and put on the cooker fan to remove the smoke. Pour away any fat that has collected in the bottom of the pan.
• Throw in the vegetables, followed by the wine and stock. Season and bring to the boil, then clap on the lid and put in the oven. Bake for 7 hrs, turning twice. After 5 hrs the meat will be cooked and offer no resistance to the knife.
• There is no need to rest the meat when cooked in this way, but to finish the sauce, transfer the meat and vegetables to a serving dish. Strain the sauce into a jug and pour or blot away the fat with kitchen paper. Pour the sauce into a pan then boil the liquid hard to reduce by a quarter, by which time it will be rich and flavoursome. Adjust seasoning, add the Armagnac if you wish, and serve alongside the lamb, which should be served with a spoon, a la cuillère as the French call it.

SLOW COOKER MOROCCAN LAMB STEW

Steps:

• Set the slow cooker to low. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and brown the lamb in batches, transferring to the slow cooker as you go. Add the remaining oil and the onions to the pan and cook for 8-10 mins until softened. Tip in the garlic and ginger and stir for 1-2 mins, then add the spices, preserved lemon and tomato purée. Warm through, then tip into the slow cooker. Swirl some water around the pan, then pour into the slow cooker along with the stock. Season, cover and cook for 6-8 hrs.
• Once the meat is really tender, turn the heat up to high. Add the honey, lemon and olives and cook for 20-30 mins. Top with the herbs and serve with couscous or rice.

SLOW COOKER LEG OF LAMB

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the lamb and brown on each side for 4-5 mins. Set the slow cooker to low. Melt the butter in a saucepan until foaming, then stir through the flour. Whisk in the stock gradually until incorporated, add the wine and bring to the boil. Set aside.
• Put the onion, garlic, thyme and rosemary into your slow cooker and sit the lamb on top. Pour over the lamb gravy. Put the lid on and cook for 8 hrs or until soft and tender.
• Remove the lamb and set, covered, on a plate. Strain the liquid into a pan and simmer until slightly thickened. Serve the lamb thickly sliced or shredded (it'll be quite soft) with mashed potatoes, green veg and the gravy.

SLOW-COOKED LAMB WITH ONIONS & THYME

Steps:

• Firstly, prepare the lamb. Heat oven to 160C/fan140C/gas 3. Wipe the meat all over and season well. Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil in a large heavy flameproof casserole, add the meat and fry all over on a fairly high heat for about 8 mins, turning until it is evenly well browned. Remove to a plate.
• Thinly slice the onions. Add to the pan and fry for about 10 mins, until softened and tinged with brown. Add a few of the thyme sprigs and cook for a further minute or so. Season with salt and pepper.
• Sit the lamb on top of the onions, then add the wine. Cover tightly. Bake for 3 hrs. You can make to this stage up to 2 days in advance, then reheat for 45 mins.
• To finish off, strip the leaves from 2 thyme sprigs and chop them with the parsley. Scatter over before serving.

SLOW COOKED MOROCCAN LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan add lamb and cook until shanks are browned all over.
• Heat remaining olive oil in a large saucepan, add onion and garlic, cook until onion softens.
• Add cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne and ginger, stir until fragrant.
• Add wine, water, stock granules, paste, honey and chutney, bring to the boil, add lamb shanks, reduce heat to low, cook, covered, for approx 41/2-5 hours, until lamb is falling off the bone, turn shanks several time during cooking.
• About 10 Min's before the end of cooking, add apricots, stir to combine.
• Remove shanks and cover with foil to keep warm.
• Mix a little water with the cornflour, add to liquid, bring to the boil, stir until sauce becomes a gravy consistency, it will not be super thick.
• I served ours over couscous and poured the sauce around the dish.