Braised Leg Of Lamb With Potatoes And Olives Recipes

Steps:

• Combine potatoes, shallots, garlic, lemon zest, and rosemary in a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker; season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon flour and broth. Add to slow cooker.
• Place 3 tablespoons flour on a plate. Season lamb with salt and pepper, then coat in flour, shaking off excess. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. In batches, cook lamb until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes; transfer to slow cooker. Add wine to skillet and cook, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon, until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add to slow cooker, then cover and cook on high until lamb is tender, about 3 1/2 hours (7 hours on low). Stir in olives, cover, and cook 20 minutes.
• To serve, transfer lamb and vegetables to a platter. Skim fat from cooking liquid, then stir in lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve sauce with lamb and vegetables.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Layer up half the potato, tomato and aubergine in a baking dish, scattering with garlic, oregano and olives, and drizzling with oil and seasoning as you go.
• Scatter over the feta, then repeat the layers until all the ingredients are used up. Finish with potatoes and a little oil.
• Bake for 50 mins or until the veg are tender (cover with foil if they're getting too brown). Top with the lamb steaks, rubbing with a little more oil and seasoning. Bake for 15-20 mins more until the lamb is cooked. Allow to rest and cool a bit before scattering with oregano and serving with crusty bread.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• With a vegetable peeler remove zest from lemon and reserve lemon. Pit olives. In a food processor finely chop zest, olives, garlic, and parsley with 2 tablespoons oil.
• Peel potatoes and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. In a large flameproof roasting pan toss potatoes with remaining 2 tablespoons oil to coat and season with salt and pepper. Arrange lamb on potatoes and with the tip of a sharp small knife cut small slits all over lamb. Rub olive mixture over lamb, pushing it into slits. Halve reserved lemon and squeeze juice over lamb. Season lamb with salt and pepper and roast with potatoes in middle of oven 20 minutes.
• Reduce temperature to 350°F.
• Roast lamb and potatoes, loosening potatoes from pan with a metal spatula and turning them occasionally, 1 hour more, or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of meat registers 135°F. Transfer lamb to a cutting board and let stand while making gravy. Transfer potatoes to a large bowl and keep warm.
• Make gravy:
• In a cup with your fingers blend together flour and butter. Add wine and water to roasting pan and deglaze pan over moderately high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits. Transfer mixture to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Whisk in flour mixture, whisking until incorporated, and simmer gravy, stirring occasionally, 1 minute. With a slotted spoon remove any potato pieces from gravy.
• Garnish lamb with lemon halves and olive branches and serve with gravy and potatoes.

Steps:

• Using a sharp knife, trim the skin and as much fat as possible from the lamb. Smear lightly with olive oil and season. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a very large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Brown the lamb thoroughly on all sides, turning it with a big pair of tongs, then put it in a large, but fairly snug-fitting, casserole (a 4.8 litre/8 pint oval one is ideal). Reserve the pan.
• Slit lengthways through the first two layers of the leek, remove leaves and wash them. Put the bay leaf, thyme and celery inside one leaf and wrap with the other, to enclose the contents. Tie this 'faggot' with kitchen string and set aside. Rinse the rest of the leek and slice finely.
• Put the reserved frying pan over a low-medium heat and melt the butter. Tip in the onion, carrot and sliced leek and cook gently for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the vegetables have softened. Add them to the casserole, draining off any fat first. Reserve the pan.
• Preheat the oven to 150C/Gas 2/fan oven 130C. Break the garlic into cloves and place in a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water and leave for 1 minute, then drain, run under cold water and peel: the best way is to place a clove on a chopping board, nick off the root end and, without lifting the blade, pull the clove away. This removes the first bit of skin and the rest should come away easily. Set the cloves aside.
• Discard any fat from the frying pan and put it over a very high heat. Pour in the wine, scrape up any bits from the bottom and boil furiously for 5 minutes. Pour the wine and stock into the casserole. Add the garlic cloves and leek faggot, making sure they are immersed - the lamb should be at least half-covered. Do not add salt.
• Cover the casserole and put it into the oven. Braise for 4 hours, reducing the temperature to 140C/Gas 1/fan oven 120C for the last 2 hours and turning the lamb every hour. Remove the lamb, put it on a heated dish, drape loosely with foil and keep warm for up to 30 minutes.
• Strain 1 litre/13⁄4 pints of the cooking juices into a pan and bring to the boil over a very high heat. Bubble madly for 8-10 minutes until the liquid has reduced by half. Meanwhile, tip the vegetable debris (but not the faggot) into a food processor and whizz to a smooth purée. Whisk this into the reduced liquid to make the sauce. Check the seasoning, then keep the sauce at a bare simmer until you are ready to serve.

Steps:

• Finely mince 1/2 cup oregano, garlic, salt and pepper in processor. Place lamb in large roasting pan. Rub lamb with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Spread 4 tablespoons oregano mixture over lamb, reserving remainder. Arrange lamb so that fat side is up. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, fill large pot with cold water. Add 4 tablespoons lemon juice to water. Cut 1 artichoke lengthwise into 8 wedges. Rub cut surfaces of artichoke with lemon half to prevent discoloring. Cut away choke and discard, leaving artichoke wedges intact. Place artichokes in pot with water . Repeat with remaining artichokes. Boil artichokes until almost tender, about 15 minutes. Drain. Transfer to large bowl. Add olives, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 teaspoon oregano mixture to artichokes; toss to coat. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 450°F. Roast lamb 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350°F.
• Meanwhile, mix potatoes, 2 tablespoons oil and oregano mixture in bowl.
• Arrange potatoes around lamb in roasting pan. Roast until thermometer inserted into thickest part of lamb registers 140°F, about 50 minutes.
• Transfer lamb to large platter. Add artichoke mixture to roasting pan with potatoes; mix well. Continue roasting vegetables until tender, about 20 minutes. Surround lamb with vegetables. Garnish with oregano sprigs and carve roast at table.