Exquisite taste needs not be expensive. This fabulous main proves it by starring a shoulder of lamb braised over five hours with apricots, brandy and spices. The apricots are gorged with the meat’s juices and melt into absolute sweetness, lavishly wrapping the succulent soft, confit meat. Paired with potatoes festively dressed as pommes Duchesse, this dish will make you more popular than Santa.
Slow roast lamb shoulder with dried apricots and pommes duchesse
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Recipe by: Florian Lameul, chef at Château La Lagune, France (published in Coté Sud/Est/Ouest, 100 meilleures recettes et tables de fête (Dec 2009) Busy:50 min, Total prep time: 6 hours Serves: 8 |
Prepare the lamb. Preheat oven to 110 degrees C.
Using a cast-iron casserole or a large dish that goes in the oven, heat the olive oil and butter on the hob on medium heat. Sear the lamb shoulder on all sides.
Take the lamb out of the casserole and place on a chopping board. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover all sides with the honey.
Quarter the carrots lengthways and cut each quarter into slices about 3-5 mm thick.
Peel and chop the shallots.
Toss the carrots, shallots and apricots into the casserole and add the brandy, water and sage. Place the lamb on top and roast for at least 5 hours (6 is fine)
If not eating right away, allow to cool down and cover. 30 minutes before the meal, pop the lamb back into the oven and reheat, covered with tin foil or your casserole lid, on low heat.
A few hours before meal or day before
Prepare the pommes duchesse. Boil the potatoes in their skin until cooked through.
Drain, allow to cool down a bit, and peel the potatoes. Mash with a masher or the back of a fork.
Add the melted butter, nutmeg, salt and pepper, and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Add the whole eggs and egg yolks and mix well.
Transfer the mash into a piping bag fitted with a dented noozle. If, like me, you don’t have the kit, use a freezing bag instead and cut a bottom corner to let the mash out.
Line two oven trays with greaseproof paper and make the pommes duchesse by piping the mash in nice little twirls on the tray. Start with a round base of about 5 cm diameter and keep going up making a couple more smaller twirls, pressing the bag gently into the pomme duchesse as you finish to make sure the inside fills up. Don’t worry if the shapes are not perfect, they will look pretty once baked no matters what.
Wash the sprouts and remove any wilted leaves and cut an X shape into the stem side of each sprout to ensure faster and even cooking. Keep in the fridge until ready to cook.
45 min before meal: preheat oven to 220 degrees C
30 minute before meal:
Place the trays loaded with the pommes duchesse in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until nicely browned.
10 min before meal:
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the sprouts and a little parsley (the parsley will reduce the cabbage flavour) and bring the water back to the boil. Boil for 7 minutes. When ready, drain, cut the sprouts in half, season to taste and mix gently with a generous knob of butter.
Place the lamb on a chopping board and flake the meat with your hands. Toss the meat chunks into a large and shallow serving bowl and pour the sauce and apricots over.
Serve with the pommes Duchesse and steamed Brussels sprouts.
6 hours before meal or day before
Prepare the lamb. Preheat oven to 110 degrees C.
Using a cast-iron casserole or a large dish that goes in the oven, heat the olive oil and butter on the hob on medium heat. Sear the lamb shoulder on all sides.
Take the lamb out of the casserole and place on a chopping board. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover all sides with the honey.
Quarter the carrots lengthways and cut each quarter into slices about 3-5 mm thick.
Peel and chop the shallots.
Toss the carrots, shallots and apricots into the casserole and add the brandy, water and sage. Place the lamb on top and roast for at least 5 hours (6 is fine)
If not eating right away, allow to cool down and cover. 30 minutes before the meal, pop the lamb back into the oven and reheat, covered with tin foil or your casserole lid, on low heat.
A few hours before meal or day before
Prepare the pommes duchesse. Boil the potatoes in their skin until cooked through.
Drain, allow to cool down a bit, and peel the potatoes. Mash with a masher or the back of a fork.
Add the melted butter, nutmeg, salt and pepper, and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Add the whole eggs and egg yolks and mix well.
Transfer the mash into a piping bag fitted with a dented noozle. If, like me, you don’t have the kit, use a freezing bag instead and cut a bottom corner to let the mash out.
Line two oven trays with greaseproof paper and make the pommes duchesse by piping the mash in nice little twirls on the tray. Start with a round base of about 5 cm diameter and keep going up making a couple more smaller twirls, pressing the bag gently into the pomme duchesse as you finish to make sure the inside fills up. Don’t worry if the shapes are not perfect, they will look pretty once baked no matters what.
Wash the sprouts and remove any wilted leaves and cut an X shape into the stem side of each sprout to ensure faster and even cooking. Keep in the fridge until ready to cook.
45 min before meal: preheat oven to 220 degrees C
30 minute before meal:
Place the trays loaded with the pommes duchesse in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until nicely browned.
10 min before meal:
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the sprouts and a little parsley (the parsley will reduce the cabbage flavour) and bring the water back to the boil. Boil for 7 minutes. When ready, drain, cut the sprouts in half, season to taste and mix gently with a generous knob of butter.
Place the lamb on a chopping board and flake the meat with your hands. Toss the meat chunks into a large and shallow serving bowl and pour the sauce and apricots over.
Serve with the pommes Duchesse and steamed Brussels sprouts.
Buy the met at your butcher your your supermarket’s butcher section and ask them to trim the fat off the shoulder.
If you don’t want to cook the pommes duchesse, you can serve the meat with mashed potatoes or even better, tagliatelle with garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. The lemon in the tagliatelle will work wonders with the sweet meat.
If you don’t want to cook the pommes duchesse, you can serve the meat with mashed potatoes or even better, tagliatelle with garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. The lemon in the tagliatelle will work wonders with the sweet meat.
Ingredients
Lamb:
1 tablespoon olive oil
20 g butter
A good sized lamb shoulder
1 generous tablespoon honey
3 carrots
2 banana shallots
250 g dried apricots
1 branch of sage
1 heaped teaspoon all spice
10 cl brandy
2 tablespoons water
Salt and pepper
Pommes duchesse:
1.6 kg floury potatoes (not waxy)
100 g butter
nutmeg
Salt and pepper
2 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
a bit of neutral oil (don’t use olive oil)
Brussels sprouts:
600g Brussels sprouts
Parsley
Knob of butter
Salt and pepper
Lamb:
1 tablespoon olive oil
20 g butter
A good sized lamb shoulder
1 generous tablespoon honey
3 carrots
2 banana shallots
250 g dried apricots
1 branch of sage
1 heaped teaspoon all spice
10 cl brandy
2 tablespoons water
Salt and pepper
Pommes duchesse:
1.6 kg floury potatoes (not waxy)
100 g butter
nutmeg
Salt and pepper
2 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
a bit of neutral oil (don’t use olive oil)
Brussels sprouts:
600g Brussels sprouts
Parsley
Knob of butter
Salt and pepper
Copyright © 2009 Tasty Diaries. All rights reserved.
2 Comments to “Slow roast lamb shoulder with dried apricots and pommes duchesse”
January 15th, 2010 at 7:23 am
The Lamb dish incredibly simple to prepare and the slow cooking means you can go out for the day and return to the most wonderful aroma. It tastes fantastic and makes an excellent dinner party/eating with friends dish. Half a shoulder works just as well if there are less of you. I served with mash.
January 21st, 2010 at 10:20 am
Lamb is delicious, easy to make & lots of moist, flakey tasty meat off the shoulder. Took half a star off as the potatoes didn’t thrill me – perhaps I used the wrong variety? Next time I’d serve with a simple mash probably, or fondant potatoes if I was feeling flash.
Will def cook again – great weekend dish.