Slow Cooked Portuguese Lamb Recipes

SLOW-ROASTED ANDALUSIAN-STYLE LAMB AND POTATOES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine garlic, thyme, and 2 tablespoons salt in a small bowl. Using your fingertips, rub mixture until it resembles wet sand (larger pieces of garlic will remain); set aside. Crush bay leaves.
• Combine half of potatoes with 1 tablespoon oil and 1 crushed bay leaf in a large roasting pan; season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Spread out potatoes in a single layer.
• Place lamb on top of potatoes and rub with garlic mixture. Layer tomatoes, onions, remaining 3 crushed bay leaves, and remaining potatoes around and up sides of lamb, seasoning with salt and pepper and drizzling with remaining 6 tablespoons oil as you go (lamb will be nearly covered). Add wine to pan; cover tightly with foil.
• Roast until lamb is very tender, 3-4 hours. Remove foil and increase oven temperature to 425°F. Roast, turning lamb halfway through, until lamb is golden, 20-25 minutes longer. Let rest in roasting pan for 15-20 minutes. DO AHEAD: Lamb can be roasted 2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Reheat before continuing.
• Pull meat from bones in large chunks; discard bones and fat. Place meat and vegetables on a platter. Skim fat from surface of cooking juices in pan. Spoon some cooking juices over lamb and vegetables and serve remainder alongside.

SLOW COOKED LEG OF LAMB

Steps:

• Heat oven to 120C/fan 100C/gas ½. Put your largest lidded casserole on the hob and brown the seasoned leg of lamb on all sides - do this very thoroughly until it is a good dark brown as it will not brown during the cooking. (If you don't do it now, it will end up beige.) If the lamb sticks, add a drizzle of oil - legs of lamb differ. Allow 10 mins on a high heat and put on the cooker fan to remove the smoke. Pour away any fat that has collected in the bottom of the pan.
• Throw in the vegetables, followed by the wine and stock. Season and bring to the boil, then clap on the lid and put in the oven. Bake for 7 hrs, turning twice. After 5 hrs the meat will be cooked and offer no resistance to the knife.
• There is no need to rest the meat when cooked in this way, but to finish the sauce, transfer the meat and vegetables to a serving dish. Strain the sauce into a jug and pour or blot away the fat with kitchen paper. Pour the sauce into a pan then boil the liquid hard to reduce by a quarter, by which time it will be rich and flavoursome. Adjust seasoning, add the Armagnac if you wish, and serve alongside the lamb, which should be served with a spoon, a la cuillère as the French call it.

SLOW COOKED PORTUGUESE LAMB

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 150°C.
• Trim all the fat off the leg of lamb.
• Put the lamb into a casserole dish with the red wine, tomato juice, peeled tomatoes, spring onions, onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper.
• Cover and heat in oven for 4 hours.
• After 4 hours add the chick peas and butter beans.
• Increase the heat to 200°C and cook uncovered for another hour.

SLOW COOKER LEG OF LAMB

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the lamb and brown on each side for 4-5 mins. Set the slow cooker to low. Melt the butter in a saucepan until foaming, then stir through the flour. Whisk in the stock gradually until incorporated, add the wine and bring to the boil. Set aside.
• Put the onion, garlic, thyme and rosemary into your slow cooker and sit the lamb on top. Pour over the lamb gravy. Put the lid on and cook for 8 hrs or until soft and tender.
• Remove the lamb and set, covered, on a plate. Strain the liquid into a pan and simmer until slightly thickened. Serve the lamb thickly sliced or shredded (it'll be quite soft) with mashed potatoes, green veg and the gravy.

LAMB IN THE SLOW COOKER

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add lamb and cook until outside is browned, about 5 minutes per side. Remove to a plate and add onion to the oil in the skillet. Saute until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
• Place onion in the bottom of a slow cooker pot and place the lamb roast on top. Mix water, soy sauce, garlic, and onion soup mix together and pour over the roast. Cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours.
• Remove roast, cover lightly with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes before carving. Mix butter and flour into a paste. Add small pieces of this paste to the hot cooking liquid, mixing well to incorporate. Cook until sauce reaches desired thickness, 5 to 6 minutes.
• Slice roast thinly and serve with gravy.