The Essential James Beard Cookbook (28 page)

Add the carrots, turnips, and potatoes to the lamb mixture. Cover and cook 20 minutes. Meanwhile, turn the cooled couscous into a big bowl and mix in the remaining ¼ cup oil and the salt with your fingers. Return the couscous to the cheesecloth-lined steamer or colander. Add the zucchini, chickpeas, and raisins to the lamb mixture, replace the steamer or colander on top, cover again, and steam for another 15 to 20 minutes. Then transfer the hot couscous to a bowl and mix in the remaining 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter.

To serve, mound the couscous on a very large platter. Make a well in the center. Strain the lamb stew, reserving the liquid. Put about 2 cups of the drained lamb and vegetables into it. Serve the rest of the stew in another dish, the reserved liquid in a large bowl, and the sauce piquante in a small bowl.

LAMB SHANKS WITH BEANS

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

A part of the lamb that is often overlooked, the ends of the legs are wonderfully flavorful and take well to long, slow cooking. Combined with white beans they are excellent and economical eating. A salad of crisp greens tossed with grated carrot and chopped onion would go well with this substantial dish.

For the Beans

2 cups dried Great Northern or white navy beans

1 large yellow onion, stuck with 2 whole cloves

1 tablespoon kosher salt

7 garlic cloves

1 bay leaf

For the Lamb Shanks

Six 1- to 1¼-pound meaty lamb shanks

5 garlic cloves, 2 cut into slivers, and 3 finely chopped

2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed with a mortar and pestle

Kosher salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter (½ stick plus 1 tablespoon)

6 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup dry red wine

1½ cups water or
Beef Stock

2 large onions, thinly sliced

6 slices thick-sliced bacon

½ cup fresh bread crumbs (made in a blender or food processor from day-old bread)

To prepare the beans: Put the beans in a large saucepan with water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, boil 5 minutes, then remove the saucepan from the heat. Let the beans cool, covered, in the cooking water for 1 hour only—no longer or they will be too soft. Add more water to cover, if needed, plus the clove-studded onion, salt, garlic, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until just tender to the bite—do not overcook or the resulting dish will be mushy. [
Editor: This will take about 45 minutes, depending on the age and dryness of the beans.
]

While the beans are cooking, prepare the lamb shanks: Make incisions in the lamb shanks and stuff the garlic slivers into them. Rub the shanks with 1½ teaspoons rosemary and 1 teaspoon salt. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter and 3 tablespoons of the oil in a very large, deep, heavy skillet (not uncoated cast iron). Brown the lamb shanks on all sides, turning with tongs and sprinkling with pepper as they cook. Add the wine and water with the remaining rosemary. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour.

Sauté the sliced onions in the remaining 3 tablespoons oil until lightly browned. Cover and cook over low heat until soft but not browned, about 6 minutes.

Drain the beans, reserving the liquid. Put a layer of half the beans in a very large enameled Dutch oven top with a layer of the onions and the 3 finely chopped garlic cloves. Put the lamb shanks on top, and add the remaining beans and the broth from the pan in which the shanks cooked. If there is not enough liquid (there should be enough to cover the shanks), add some of the reserved bean liquid. Lay the bacon slices on top and cook in a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour, adding more of the bean liquid if the mixture cooks down too much and the beans seem dry. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Add the bread crumbs and stir well. Sprinkle them into the Dutch oven. Bake 20 minutes longer, or until the crumbs are golden. Serve from the Dutch oven.

ROAST RACK OF LAMB

MAKES 2 TO 3 SERVINGS

The rack of lamb has come into increasing favor in restaurants, and now people are beginning to appreciate its utter simplicity of preparation in their own homes. The rack consists of one side of the ribs. In young lamb, or baby lamb, when the ribs have been well trimmed, all excess fat removed, the rack will consist of 6 to 7 delicate small chops, a perfect piece of meat for two people.

Ask the butcher to cut through the chine bone so that you can carve right through the chops without having to struggle with the bones. If you want to put little paper frills on the rib ends after the rack is cooked, protect the bone ends by twisting pieces of aluminum foil around each one before roasting. A rack of lamb should always be roasted at a high temperature and served rare.

1 rack of lamb, 6 to 7 chops, trimmed of all but about
¹
⁄
₃
inch of fat, with the bones frenched

1 garlic clove, crushed under a knife and peeled

1 teaspoon dried rosemary or thyme, crushed with a mortar and pestle

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Rub the rack of lamb well with the garlic and rosemary. Twist pieces of aluminum foil around the bone ends.

Put the roast, fat side down, on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast in a preheated 450°F oven for 15 minutes, then turn it over so the bone side is down. Reduce the heat to 400°F and roast 5 minutes more. Test the meat by pressing it lightly with your fingers, protecting them with paper towels. The meat should feel firmly springy to the touch. If it seems to need more cooking time, return it to the oven for a further 5 to 7 minutes. It should take 20 to 27 minutes for rare lamb. The internal temperature, tested with a meat thermometer, should register 125° to 130°F.

Transfer the cooked meat to a carving board, substitute paper frills for the foil (if you like to gnaw the little bones, this prevents your fingers from getting greasy). Let it stand 3 minutes, then carve.

There are two ways to carve rack of lamb. The more usual is to separate the chops by cutting between the bones and serving 2 to 3 chops to each person, according to appetite. The other way is to carve the meat in long, thin slices parallel to the bone. If you serve the rack that way, serve each person 1 or 2 of the tiny bones to gnaw on.

BROILED LAMB CHOPS

Thick loin or rib chops are the best for broiling. As they have a good deal of fat and most people like their lamb chops broiled rare or pink (medium rare), you should move the chops nearer to the heat, about 2 inches away, 2 minutes before the end of the broiling time in order to char the fat. Thin chops (1 inch thick) are best broiled fast and close to the heat, or the meat will be overcooked before the fat is brown.

Ideally, lamb chops should be at least 1½ to 2 inches thick. Even 2½ or 3 inches is not too much, if your chops are to be deliciously rare. As the single lamb chops sold in markets are usually cut 1 inch thick and the double lamb chops 2 inches thick, you will have to ask your butcher to cut them specially if you want other than the standard size. Allow 1 large or thick, or 2 small or thinner lamb chops per serving.

Broiling time depends not only on the thickness of the chops but also on the intensity of heat put out by your broiler. The following chart gives approximate times and distances for chops of different thicknesses. The time given is total broiling time. Allow half the time per side.

Timings for Lamb Chops According to Thickness

•
FOR A CHOP 1 INCH THICK.
Broil 2 inches from the heat; 5 to 6 minutes for rare.

•
FOR A CHOP 1½ INCHES THICK.
Broil 4 inches from the heat; 6 to 8 minutes for medium rare.

•
FOR A CHOP 2 INCHES THICK.
Broil 4 inches from the heat; 12 to 14 minutes for medium rare.

•
FOR A CHOP 3 INCHES THICK.
First give them 3 minutes a side at 4 inches from the heat, then lower to 5 inches from the heat and continue to broil for a further 9 to 12 minutes for rare, 12 to 15 minutes for medium rare.

Preheat the broiler. Rub the rack of the broiler pan with oil. (If you are broiling 1-inch chops, broil them in a disposable aluminum foil broiling pan, which can be put nearer the heat. Be sure to put the pan on a cookie or baking sheet first.)

Season the chops on one side with salt and pepper and arrange on the broiler rack or in the foil pan. Broil according to the chart, turning the chops with tongs midway through the broiling time and seasoning the second side with salt and pepper when turned.

If necessary, raise the chops to within 2 inches of the heat for the last 2 minutes of broiling to brown the fat.

To check for doneness, make a tiny slit in the meat, near the bone. Or, if the chops are very thick, insert a meat thermometer horizontally into the thickest part of the meat, not touching the bone. The internal temperature should register 130°F for rare, 135°F for medium rare.

Serve the broiled lamb chops on very hot plates, as the fat congeals quickly. Crisp fried potatoes or broiled tomatoes and watercress are good accompaniments.

IRISH STEW

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

Probably the most basic braised lamb dish, which manages to be both simple and elegant, is Irish stew. Recipes for Irish stew can be found in Escoffier, Montagné, and practically every good lexicon of good cooking—and they differ a great deal. Good Irish stew is not a thin soup with meat and vegetables floating in it, but a hearty dish of meat, potatoes, and onions cooked slowly until rather thick in texture. In the purest version, it contains neither carrots nor turnips.

3 pounds lamb rib or shoulder chops

Softened butter for the Dutch oven

1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish

1½ teaspoons dried thyme

5 to 6 medium red-skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch rounds

3 large yellow onions, sliced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups water

2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Trim the fat from the chops, leaving the meat on the bones. Butter a large shallow baking dish.

Mix the parsley and the thyme together in a small bowl. Spread one-third of the potatoes in the bottom of the casserole and cover with a layer of chops topped with a third of the parsley-thyme mixture. Add a layer of half the onions, then a third more of potatoes, the remaining chops, herbs, remaining onions, and finally, the remaining potatoes and parsley mixture. Season well with salt and pepper and add the water. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake in a preheated 300°F for 2 to 2½ hours, or until the meat is tender and the potatoes and onions are soft. Serve in soup plates with a sprinkling of chopped parsley on top.

Irish stew always benefits from being cooked the day before and allowed to cool thoroughly. Skim off any fat and reheat the stew.