Braised lamb
with prosciutto, lemon, garlic and olives
Brasato di agnello
Braised lamb with prosciutto, salted lemon, garlic and olives gives you tender and succulent meat with a pocket of explosive flavours.
Braising meat by browning the surface at high temperatures followed by slow cooking in a small amount of liquid is a way to enhance flavour and ensure melt-in-the-mouth tenderness. Here the slow cooking method is used on a deboned leg of lamb lined with cured ham and stuffed with a mixture of herbs, salted lemon, garlic and olives to make a feast, much like stuffed veal, porchetta, stuffed chicken breast and stuffed turkey.
Ingredients
1 kg deboned leg of lamb
4 slices of cured prosciutto ham
1 salted lemon
4 tbsp green olives
3 cloves of garlic
3 sprigs of rosemary
400 ml white wine
400 ml meat stock
1 sprig rosemary
3 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
Preparation
Unfold the meat with the inside up.
Line the inside of the leg of lamb with prosciutto.
Peel the garlic cloves, scoop out the meat from the salted lemon and remove stones from the olives
Dice olive meat, garlic cloves, rosemary and salted lemon zest finely and spread the mixture over the prosciutto.
Fold the leg of lamb over the stuffing and tie it as a roll with a kitchen string.
Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper.
Place it in an ovenproof dish greased with olive oil.
Roast it in the oven at 250 C / 480 F for 10 minutes.
Turn down the heat to 150 C / 300 F.
Pour white wine and meat stock over the leg of lamb.
Add bay leaves and rosemary to the liquid and cover the pan with aluminium foil.
Return the meat to the oven and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
Take the meat out of the oven and give it 15 minutes’ rest.
If it’s a large piece of meat, it may need another 30 minutes in the oven followed by another 15 minutes rest. The core temperature should be 54 C / 130 F.
Strain the cooking liquid through a sieve, heat it in a casserole and boil it with a knob of butter until nice and thick.
Remove the kitchen string from the braised lamb, cut the meat in slices and serve with sauce and vegetables of the season.
Braised lamb with prosciutto, salted lemon and olives served with vegetables of the season.
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