Slow Roast Lamb followed by Lentil Stew

Lamb and Lentil Stew

From days gone by, home cooks have made roast dinners which would materialise into a variety of dishes throughout the following week. My grandparents made a brilliant lentil soup that was usually on offer for the grandchildren around noon, as we could rarely make it to the usual 2:00 pm Sunday dinner hour. Dadou's recipe was very close to a Claudia Roden recipe found in her cookbook, A Book of Middle Eastern Food, and he used the left over bone from the previous lamb roast. That soup was a real favourite of my childhood. Now, as an adult with more sophisticated tastes, I have made a slightly more elaborate version. A vegetarian version could easily be adapted by eliminating the left over lamb and beef broth.

Fork Tender Slow Roast Lamb

15 minutes to prep, 3 1/2 - 4 hours to cook
Serves 4, plus leftovers for the stew 
(Doubles easily)

1/2 C white wine + 1/2 cup water
1 heaped Tbsp tomato puree (paste)

1 onion, sliced in wedges

2 lb/1 k boneless lamb shoulder (but any size is fine)

3 cloves garlic, left in their skins

3 sprigs of thyme
drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar over the lamb

Salt and Pepper 

To serve:

parsley

pomegranate seeds

1 to 1 1/2 cup course bulgar wheat and 1 tsp salt

Combine the white wine, water and tomato puree in the bottom of casserole dish. Add the onion wedges, thyme sprigs and unrolled the boneless leg of lamb into the dish. Nestle the garlic cloves around the lamb and liberally season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the top with aged balsamic vinegar. Cover the dish and put in a 150 C/300 F oven for 1 1/2 hours. Check the lamb at this point and add more water and wine if needed. It should be starting to get tender, but still firmly together. Reduce the oven to 100 C/200 F for an additional 2 - 2 1/2 hours. At this point you can keep it warm until you are ready to serve it. It will be ready when in gently falls apart when you prod it with a fork. 

About 30 minutes before serving make the bulgar wheat. Place 1 to 1 1/2 cups of coarse bulgar wheat into a large glass bowl. Using the same cup or mug, add twice the amount of boiling water to wheat in the bowl with 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover with a plate and set aside. After about 10 minutes, pull a fork through the bulgar to fluff it up. At this point you can check to see if it is ready. If it is still a bit crunchy add a bit more boiling water. If it is fully saturated, but there is too much water, drain the excess out. Check the seasoning.

To serve: Put the roast on a cutting board and remove all of the fat. Gently pull apart the lamb and put in a serving dish. Top the lamb with pomegranate seeds and chopped parsley and serve with bulgar wheat. Reserve all of the juice, onions and garlic in a large measuring cup for tomorrow's lentil soup. Cover with cling film and place in the refrigerator. A layer of fat will solidify on the top overnight. Also keep back a 1/2 cup of bulgar for the soup. (In a pinch you can add dried bulgar to the soup.)

Lentil and Lamb Stew

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 large onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 celery stocks, diced

1 cup green or brown lentils

shredded leftover lamb

Beef or Vegetable Knorr Stock Pot

2 - 3 cups water

Left over from the roast:

juices from the pan

whole garlic, squeezed out of their skin

Additions to serve:

handful of baby spinach

1/2 cup leftover bulgar wheat 

plain yogurt

harissa paste

fresh lemon juice

In a soup pot saute the onion, carrot and celery in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Meanwhile, skim the fat off the leftover pan drippings from the roast and squeeze the garlic cloves from their skin. Once the vegetables start to soften, add the pan juices, Stock pot/cube, lentils and leftover shredded lamb. (If your lamb is very soft, you could wait until the end of cooking to add the meat.) Cook on a slow heat for about an hour, or until the lentils are soft. Before serving, add the cooked bulgar wheat, baby spinach and a squeeze of lemon to taste. Garnish each bowl with a spoon full of plain yogurt and a few dollops of harissa paste. (If you have access to fresh harissa paste, it makes all the difference.)

For my veggie and vegan friends, leave out the lamb (obviously) and use vegetable stock. To make the stew more complex, add finely chopped porcini mushrooms and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.