Saturday, March 5, 2011

Last Dish of the Winter Season

It's springtime in Provence! Today we had lunch outside and tomorrow we will get the lemon trees out of their winter quarter, back onto the terrace and into the Provence sunshine.  So I kind of had to hurry to prepare one of the last winter dishes  - and what a feast it proved to be! I had already told you about the oilve oil marinated lamb I bought at Gilles', our local butcher's:

Gilles' olive oil marinated leg of lamb

It comes as a vacuum packed deboned leg of lamb, marinated in olive oil, herbes de Provence and fleur de sel (kosher salt) which I prepared as the famous "Seven Hour Leg of Lamb" (Gigot de sept heures).
First I peeled and very finely sliced potatoes:


Onto which I liberally sprinkled semi-dried tomatoes, seasoned with pepper and salt,


then put the meat and most of the oil marinade on top plus added one whole head of garlic "en chemise". That is one expression I just love. Doesn't "garlic in a shirt" sound so much more poetic than "unpeeled garlic"? All that was then left to do was to firmly close the lid and put the pan into the oven, heated at 100°C/210°F.
After seven hours it looked this this, smelled heavenly and tasted even better:
Delicious One Pot Dish: Seven Hour Leg of Lamb

7 comments:

  1. That lamb looks so wonderful and good. I could eat it right now. I can also imagine the wonderful smells from the over. Glad you have springtime again. We will be in Provence the end of May. (smiling) Susan

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  2. My goodness - this just looks perfect. I am coming to Provence in June and can't wait --- summer dishes await.
    Have a lovely day -- Sue

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  3. Wish it was spring here, can I come to dinner LOL. Diane

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  4. Thank you Susan, Suzi and Diane, I wish I could have you all for dinner. I am sure we'd have a lot of fun!

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  5. Ooh, that looks very tasty! I have always wanted to make seven hour leg of lamb but worried that after all of the time and effort, the lamb would be dry. Yours looks anything but dry!

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  6. Michel, as long as you leave the lamb firmly covered things cannot go wrong.

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  7. Oh, what a beauty! Who knew that just a few elements and the right combo can create this perfection!

    Merci',

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