Catalan lamb with garlic and white beans

My adored, beautiful companion of seven years,  Jamie,  passed away 3 years ago and I not only still miss him  but miss cooking  for him every night before I went to work.  After all, that was had sparked his interest.  He called me for our first date and I said I was cooking dinner and couldn’t go.  When he discovered that I was making a complete dinner for myself only he was hooked and told everyone the story .  Jamie had an exquisite palate and it was thrilling when he especially liked something but this was his absolute favorite dish and was just one of a long list of dishes he wanted me to make before he died.  It’s not an easy dish to make.  Few of Paula Wolfert recipes from the cooking of Southwest France are easy  but they are certainly worth it. I should know -I’ve cooked at least 25 of them! She’s my favorite cookbook writer.

Catalán Lamb with Beans

Recipe: Paula Wolfert, The Food of Southwestern France, Doubleday, 1983

 

This is not an easy recipe to make but, if you’re stuck at home in a blizzard or want to honor your friends by preparing a complicated and delicious dish, this is it and it’s worth every minute of intense labor.  This is the original recipe from the book first published in 1983.  A new simplified edition was released in 2005 but I’m not a fan of it.

SERVES 8

Inspired by a recipe from Lucien Vane!.

MEAT

ACTIVE WORK: 1 hour

PARTIALLY AITENDED SIMMERING TIME: 2 1/2 hours

BAKING TIME: 1 hour

1 pound dried white beans such as Great Northern or pea beans

10 ounces lean salt pork

1 boned lean shoulder of lamb (3 to 3 1/2pounds), cut into 2-inch cu

1 head plus 4 cloves garlic

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Granulated sugar

2 tablespoons peanut or olive oil

1 1/2 cups chopped onions

1 cup dry white wine

3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 ounce dried cepes

1 piece orange rind

2 carrots, sliced

1 onion stuck with 2 cloves

Here is a superb version of cassoulet called in Catalan en pistache, as served in central

Pyrenees. If you like the combination of lamb and garlic (and who

doesn’t?-Lucien Vanel once told me one should fall to one’s knees before such

beautiful affinity of tastes!), you will adore this dish.

Buy “choice” lamb rather than “prime” -it is less fatty, and lamb fat is =particularly

delicious. The method of cooking the lamb in its own juices with a small”‘:’

quantity of wine and aromatics was devised to bring out the true flavor of the me~With

the dish, pass a small bowl of pickled walnuts.

LAMB WITH GARLIC AND WHITE BEANS 293

Herb bouquet: 3 sprigs parsley, 1 sprig thyme, 1bay leaf, and 2 celery

leaves, tied together

1 pound garlic sausage, or homemade Toulouse Sausage flavored with

cinnamon, cloves, marjoram, and cayenne pepper, or cotechino, or

chorizo, or kielbasa

(continued)

~ABOUT 7 HOURS IN ADVANCE OR THE DAY BEFORE (see Note 3), soak beans

_ in water.

M1eanwhile, with a thin-bladed knife, remove rind from lean salt pork. Cook

pieces in simmering water 3 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold running water: dry. Cut lean salt pork into small cubes. Set aside cubes and whole rind.

~ Cut away as much fat as possible from each cube of lamb. Peel 4 cloves of garlic

and cut each clove into slivers. With a small paring knife, make a slit in each cube of

and insert a sliver of garlic. Rub the meat very lightly with sugar so the lamb will have a nice brown glossy color when

browned.

In a flameproof 3-quart heavy-bottomed casserole, heat oil over high heat and

lamb on all sides in batches. Avoid too high a heat, but do sear the lamb cubes.

Transfer each batch to a plate to make room for the next batch.

When all the lamb has been browned, wipe out the fat in the bottom of the

casserole. Add cubes of salt pork. Lower heat, cover, and cook 5 minutes, shaking

the casserole often so cubes will not stick. Uncover, add onions, and cook gently,

Sturring once or twice, until soft and golden. Tilt casserole and press on onions and

pork cubes with the back of a slotted spoon to extract excess fat. Use a paper towel to

soak up fat.

. Deglaze the casserole with wine. Return lamb pieces and any juices that have

accumulated on the plate. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, cepes (washed-not soaked), and

the. orange rind. Bring to a boil, then simmer, tightly covered, 2 hours, or until tender.

7. When beans have soaked  1 1/2 hours, drain and put in a 4- or 5-quart heavy pan.

Cover with tepid water and slowly bring to a boil. Boil beans 5 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, bring a kettle of water to a boil. When beans have boiled 5 minutes,

drain and return to pan. Immediately pour enough boiling water over to cover. (This

little extra step eliminates a great deal of the gas that causes some bean eaters to

suffer.)

9. Add carrots, onion stuck with 2 cloves, blanched pork rind, and herb bouquet.

Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 2 hours. Midway add 1 teaspoon salt.

10. When lamb has finished cooking, set aside, uncovered. Spoon off any fat that

rises to the surface.

11. Prick sausage or sausages 3 or 4 times. Add to beans after they have cooked 1112

hours. Continue cooking beans, uncovered, 30 minutes.

12. Remove and discard carrots, onion stuck with cloves, and herb bouquet.

13. Separate remaining garlic head into cloves. Cook cloves in their skins in a small

saucepan with water to cover 10 minutes. Drain and peel (see Note 1). Set aside.

14. Preheat oven to 3250 F.

• 15. Line and earthenware or stoneware bean pot with the pork rind, fat side  down. (The skin Side Sticks.) Using a slotted Spoon, transfer

the beans to make a layer over the rind, then add a layer of about half of the lamb. (Cut

the sausage or sausages into 8 slices of approximately equal size; place between lamb-chunks.

Scatter peeled garlic cloves on top. Cover with another layer of have of the remaining beans,

add remaining lamb, then remaining beans. Pour all the meat cooking liquid over-beans

and add just enough of bean cooking liquid to moisten. Set pot in oven to cook

1 hour, or until a crust forms on the surface. Serve directly from earthenware –

 

NOTES TO THE COOK

1. Parboiling the garlic cloves, then peeling and tossing them with the beans

for a pleasant surprise, since the peeled doves and the white beans look a

2. Dish can be prepared 1day in advance. Poke holes in bean crust, and

bake 1/2 hour to reheat in a 350 F. oven.