Braised Lamb with Mustard and Mint
Every other month I wait by my mailbox for my favorite magazine: Elle à Table. I pay a small fortune to import it from France, but it’s worth every centime. It’s full of all the glossy, chic, too-cool-for-school French recipes and hot spots and food trends, and I eat it up. It’s offered me a few inspirations over the years, and this week I was heartily rewarded for my subscription fee.
I saw a recipe for lamb stewed with mustard and mint. I shut the magazine right there—I don’t like to see the ingredients for fear that I’ll copycat. So I set about making my own version. Lamb shank, on the bone, seared in olive oil, and simmered in a broth flavored with shallots, garlic, beef stock, wine, Worcestershire sauce, whole grain mustard, and an entire bunch of fresh mint. The meat jitters in the pot for two hours until it just gives up and falls off the bone. The bone itself and the heat of the oven reduce the sauce until it coats a spoon in that deliciously velvety way that you know only means good things, and the top of the lamb gets crisp like barbecue. The Worcestershire just makes it all taste like meaty gravy, and the whole grain mustard is surprisingly gentle, imparting a sweet sting to the broth. But the pièce de résistance is the mint—left of the stem, strewn haphazardly over the meat and then baked for hours, it imparts just a lightness, and surprising savoriness, to the dish. No surprise that mint goes well with lamb, but this goes so far beyond 1980s neon mint jelly that it’s like coming to the discovery all on one’s own.
I made this for our Sunday evening roast, and Mr. English didn’t even look up from his plate until he peered at mine and asked, “are you gonna finish that?”
Success.
Excerpted from my weekly column French in a Flash on Serious Eats.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 lamb shanks (about 3 pounds)
- Sea salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 shallots, minced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 1 bunch fresh mint, left on the stem
PROCEDURE
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a braising pan, heat the olive oil over high heat. Season the lamb with salt and pepper and sear until brown on all sides. Add the shallots and garlic, and stir into the oil. Immediately add the wine, and boil for 1 minute. Add the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard. Stir everything together, and bring to a boil. Cover the top of the ingredients with the sprigs of fresh mint, and cover the pot. Cook in the oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is falling off the bone. Simmer on the stove to thicken the sauce if desired.print this recipe
I haven’t taken a look at that magazine but this lamb dish is a winner for sure. Will have to try it and link back to your site. Love your site.
Thank you so much! And if you do get your hands on a copy of Elle à Table–I highly recommend it!
I do that too!! See an idea for a dish, and do everything I can to avoid the recipe itself so I can recreate it using my own creativity!
This looks delicious, thank you for posting.
I’m so glad other people do that. It’s just like a fun little challenge I do with myself. And it really worked for this lamb, I think!
i was given carte blanche by my boyfriend to pick anything i want for dinner tonight and i have selected this dish because it sounds AMAZING. any thoughts on good side dish pairings?
Hi Renee! Yes. I was in Paris this weekend, and there was lamb being served left, right, and center, all with simple blanched haricots verts. Vegetal and light, but uncomplicated enough that you can dunk them in the sauce and have that be that. Other than that, I would do a simple Israeli couscous. Or, again in Paris this weekend, we had a similar dish, more like this one (http://www.frenchrevolutionfood.com/2011/12/french-in-a-flash-fall-apart-lamb-with-prunes-2/?section=eat), with potatoes dauphinoise. When I had it with Mr. English, I made blanched Savoy cabbage with butter. So lots of ways to go, but I would probably opt for the haricots verts. Hope that helps!
perfect suggestions – thank you! sidenote: still waiting to have this dish because we have just moved and our oven isn’t working!
That’s such a bummer! But at least the rest of the new house must be so much fun to move into. I hope you get that fixed soon. Although, I guess summer is the best time for oven malfunctions.
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