This is an Italian recipe from Elizabeth David’s classic, ‘Italian Food’. It is delicious even if not cooked perfectly. I was very lucky and bought some really good quality hogget from West Gerinish, very tender, very tasty. I also used the mystery herbs – called ‘herbs for meat’ or ‘Italian seasoning’, possibly.
INGREDIENTS:
- About 900g to 1kg lamb cut in one piece from the leg.
- A couple of carrots, chopped
- A stick of celery, chopped
- an onion, chopped
- Chopped turnip, about the same volume as the carrot
- Rind of 1 sweet orange
- Juice of half the orange
- 1 tsp coriander seed
- 1 tbsp mystery herbs, or use oregano or marjoram
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
- 1 can of chopped tomato
- 2 glasses sweet white wine (or one of table wine, one of marsala)
- olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- A splash of balsamic vinegar
- About 200ml stock (vegetable, chicken or lamb)
METHOD:
- Chop a clove of garlic finely, and rub it into the meat along with a handful of the mystery herbs, salt and pepper.
- Brown the meat in a little oil in a casserole dish, and then set aside.
- In the same pan, fry the chopped onion slowly in the onion, and then add the garlic, and the rest of the chopped vegetables, garlic, coriander and orange rind, and cook until softened.
- Add the tomatoes, bring to a simmer then add the meat and white wine, and salt and pepper, and 200ml of stock. The meat should cook on a bed of vegetable stew, slowly roasting in the steam.
- Cover and simmer gently for two hours. This works better in a low oven. Keep an eye on the stew to make sure it doesn’t boil dry.
- At the end of cooking, squeeze the juice of half an orange over the meat and let it settle before serving.