Hanukkah Wildcard: Hot, Citrusy Lamb Leg
The lamb served after it’s fallen off the bone. Pair it with oven-roasted leeks or potatoes. Or, a wild rice.
The Jewish holidays with an easy bone-in Mediterranean meat, toasted spices, lemon and wine
This is an unpopular (and especially un-Jewish) opinion: I hate making potato latkes. I can’t really think of anything less creative than peeling and then grating a bunch of potatoes, and then pressing it until all of the water comes out. It’s good, I get it, but it’s also a hark back to a special kind of wintery shtetl hell I’d rather just avoid. And that’s why for this Hanukkah, I’m choosing lamb.
Some background: lamb leg is traditionally served during Passover (just as the French eat gigot for Easter); lamb can also be the key ingredient of tzimmes, a Jewish stew with root vegetables and sometimes dried fruit, served on Rosh Hashannah. So, time-wise, I’m clearly way off. However, I’m not religious for one and I really wanted a nice lamb dish.
The key to a good lamb leg is not that different than brisket or short rib. It needs a slow braise and just like for my red meat, I use wine (in this case, I went for white—although a cheap rosé definitely works too). We’re entering the peak of citrus season, so I sliced up a lemon to go in the braise. I am not against a sliced pomelo or grapefruit for a subtle, sweet-tart acid kick. I also added aromatics like rosemary and toasted fennel seeds. In a Dutch oven, I let the lamb sit all day while I worked on other things, with onions and garlic on my lowest stove-top heat. When dinnertime came around, it (not to sound overly cliché) did actually fall of the bone and was therefore very easy to serve.
I enjoy this recipe because it’s exceedingly simple for such a rich result and doesn’t need many ingredients: it has the soul-warming, hearty aspects of Jewish cooking but also the tidy, modern cleanliness of today’s French cooking. For a side, the lamb goes nicely with oven-roasted leeks, which are in their seasonal peak. While heavier, basic oven-roasted potatoes are also a good pairing.
No pressing required.
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Serving: 6 people
Ingredients:
2 bone-in lamb legs
Half bottle of cheap wine
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon, unseeded and sliced (cut ends off)
2 1/2 tsp fennel or cumin seeds
2 yellow onions, quartered
2 whole garlic heads, unpeeled, halved crosswise
2 bay leaves (fresh or dried) with thyme and/or rosemary
Preparation:
1. Heat olive oil in Dutch oven on stove top on medium high, and when warm brown your two lamb legs. No need to overdo it, it’s just to get excess fat out. Once browned on all sides, remove most of the fat from the Dutch oven. Toast your spice of choice, such as fennel or cumin seeds, in the little bit of fat that you keep. You’ll smell it when it’s bloomed.
2. Lower your stove top temperature to low. Add in your meat, your onions, garlic, lemon and aromatics. Add a half-bottle of wine. The lamb legs should be nearly submerged in the liquid and if not then don’t hesitate to add some water (or, more wine).
3. Leave the closed Dutch oven on your lowest stove-top heat (if your oven is full, like mine) or in the real oven at 270F for the day (200F if you want to do it overnight). Serve the lamb when you’re ready. It will come right off the bone and resemble a juicy confit as pictured. Plate it with the braising sauce.