| Their strong point is braising; browning meats and then adding liquid for long slow cooking. This long slow cooking can be done on top of the stove or in the oven. They can also be used for whatever stovetop application you have that needs a pot of that size--making spaghetti sauce, soup, stock, whatever. But I'll often start something on top of the stove and put it in the oven to finish; the beauty of the closed dutch/french oven is that it's very forgiving and a lot of dishes do well (sometimes better) with very little attention. An extreme example of the 'set it and forget it' application is Tony Bordain's recipe I posted a while back for 'Seven Hour Leg of Lamb'. In it you start the ingredients and put it in a very slow oven for 7 hours. Absolutely foolproof, absolutely delicious. Here's my posting of that recipe: I have posted this a few times in the past; it's perfect for no-fuss really good food. And it's convenient for a casual dinner because you do all the work seven hours before serving and you don't do anything at all to the dish for seven hours--so you have the freedom to do other stuff when the guests arrive. I love lamb nice and pink, medium rare-ish, but that ain't the way a lot of the world approaches lamb. Many cultures want it well done and juicy; before you throw up your hands and say 'no way', consider this recipe. There is a French bistro dish called "Gigot de sept heures"--yes, that's "Seven hour leg of lamb". I first ran across this in Anthony Bourdain's "Les Halles Cookbook". The first time I fixed it there were two teenagers in my house who claimed they didn't like lamb. Suffice it to say there were no leftovers. Bourdain makes the comment that when it's done, you should be able to cut it with a spoon.
Like all common recipes, there are variations: but it's basically a braise in a heavy casserole dish. I used a deep cast iron Dutch oven with a tight fitting lid, and it worked great. Season the lamb with slivers of garlic, sear it, add liquid and vegetables, cover the pot, put it in a slow oven and DON'T PEEK for seven hours. Omigod, is it good--and easy!!
This is a perfect dish for a day when you have a lot of laundry or housework to do. You gotta be in the house anyway, so may as well have a no-stress supper cooking while you're doing other work. You put it in the oven after brunch, then do whatever you need to do, and after seven hours you have some juicy and scrumptious lamb. A half hour before serving, cook up some noodles or something to catch the juices.
Here's Bourdain's version. The only liberties I take with it is to brown the meat prior to putting in the other goodies, and since I have a very tight fitting casserole I don't bother with the flour seal. You can also use a little more wine if you want. The garlic cooks down so it’s not overpowering; do use at least the amount it calls for. GIGOT DE SEPT HEURES
1 leg of lamb, about 6#
4 garlic cloves, sliced, plus 20 whole garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
salt & pepper
2 small onions, thinly sliced
4 carrots, peeled
1 bouquet garni
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup flour, 1 cup water
Preheat oven to 300 F. Make many small incisions in lamb, place slivers of garlic in each incision. Rub lamb well with olive oil, season with salt & pepper. (At this point I would brown the lamb on all sides—but that’s not necessary.) Place it in Dutch oven and add onions, carrots, bouquet garni, garlic, wine. Put lid on Dutch oven. Combine flour and water, make a 'caulk' and use it to seal the lid to the dutch oven. Place it in the 300 degree oven and cook for 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours. NO PEEKING--leave it alone.
Remove the Dutch oven and break the seal. You don't have to eat the cooked flour paste.
That's it. About a half hour to an hour of prep, then you leave it the heck alone for 7 hours. It's nearly foolproof. Serve it with whatever else you want, and a medium bodied red wine goes quite well with this (say, a nice Zinfandel) but a dry white (such as the remainder of the bottle you opened to get the cup of wine in the recipe) is fine as well if that's your preference. Bon appetit! |
