Once upon a time, there was a slowly cooked lamb...

I know this photo is an embarrassment, but that’s the only one I was able to get  to evidence that indeed we cooked and served a very tender, and very slowly cooked lamb for Easter.  Maybe you cannot see what it looked like, but I hope you have already convinced yourselves it’s worth trying.   Our guests need to thank my brother who, a few days before Easter, when we talked on the phone, he insisted that the best lamb he ever had was cooked very slowly.  I searched and searched and found a recipe for slowly cooked lamb  that looked really promising at delisieuses.  We liked it so much, I made it again within a week for another dinner.

Recipe

Ingredients

• one leg of lamb
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 onions, sliced in rings
• 8 cloves of garlic, peeled, whole
• 4 whole carrots, peeled
• 1 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cup beef stock/broth
• 2 tablespoon Madeira or brandy
• salt, pepper
• fresh thyme

How to make: Wash, pat dry and season the lamb with salt and pepper, thoroughly, all sides. In a big, heavy skillet, heat the olive oil and saute the lamb at high heat, both sides, for about 15 minutes. When the lamb is browned, add the onions,  carrots, garlic and thyme. Stir and saute the veggies for about 5 minutes.  Add the wine. In a couple of minutes, add the beef broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, cook for couple more minutes and then put everything in a deep pan. Cover the pan with a lid or cover tightly with aluminum foil. Pre-heat the oven to 250F/120C and let it cook for seven hours, turning it twice during that time.  You can stop here and serve or if you want you can make some gravy with the juices from the pan (remove excess fat from the surface).  Cook the sauce in a pan until it thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste, if needed. Add Madeira wine or brandy.