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Provençal Red Wine Braised Lamb with Garlic Toast

Name: Provençal Red Wine Braised Lamb with Garlic Toast
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1 kg leg of lamb; 100 g smoked bacon; 1 pork rind; 1 onion; 1 tomato; 5 garlic cloves; ¾ bottles red wine; 300 ml beef stock; ½ tbsp coarse black pepper; ~1 bouquet garni; 200 g all-purpose flour; 100 ml water; ~1 French baguette; 5 garlic cloves for toast spread; ~3 tbsp olive oil; ~1½ tsp salt

⏱ 210 min

Chef Roger Vergé's legendary Provençal alternative to Beef Bourguignon: a leg of lamb slow-braised in red wine with tomatoes, aromatics, and pork rind for three hours, sealed in the pot with a traditional flour-and-water dough to trap steam and create a pressure-cooker effect. Served with signature blanched garlic toast. The stew tastes even better the next day.

Adapted from a video by French Cooking Academy

Slow Cooked Lamb in Red Wine with Garlic Toast | French Cooking

Watch on YouTube

Ingredients

leg of lambcut into large chunks of about 100g each1 kg
smoked bacondescription suggests 100–200g100 g
pork rindblanch before using1
onion1
tomato1
garlic clovesabout 5–6 cloves, germs removed5
red wine

Steps

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1
Place lamb chunks at the bottom of a large pot. Add garlic cloves, chopped onion, chopped tomato, and about half a tablespoon of coarse black pepper. Place the bouquet garni and pour in about three-quarters of a bottle of red wine to just cover the ingredients. Mix thoroughly so the tomatoes mingle with the wine, and submerge the bouquet garni as much as possible.
2
Set the marinating lamb aside. Blanch the pork rind in boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain in a fine-mesh sieve. If using heavily salted bacon, blanch it as well. Reserve the blanched pork rind and bacon in the refrigerator.
3
Make the garlic spread: peel and remove germs from garlic cloves. Blanch in boiling salted water for 5 minutes, drain, and repeat the blanch for another 5 minutes. Drain again and blend or crush with a pestle and mortar together with olive oil until you have a smooth garlic paste.
4
After marinating for 2–3 hours, add the blanched pork rind and bacon to the pot. Pour in about 300ml of beef stock until all ingredients are covered with liquid. Preheat the oven to 120°C (or 100°C for slower cooking).
5
Make the dough seal: mix 200g flour with 100ml water by hand until a cohesive dough forms. Roll and shape it into a long, thin rope-like strand on a work surface, long enough to go around the rim of your pot.
6
Gently warm the pot of ingredients on the stove until steam rises. Press the dough rope around the rim of the pot with the lid on top, pressing down firmly to create a complete seal. Add extra dough patches if needed to ensure no steam can escape.
7
Place the sealed pot into the preheated 120°C oven and slow-cook for about 3 hours. The dish can be made a day ahead and refrigerated overnight; simply reheat for about 30 minutes before serving for the full dramatic effect.
8
Slice the baguette into thin pieces and lightly toast them. Spread a generous amount of the garlic paste on each slice, then place under the grill for a few seconds just before serving to warm the garlic and give it color.
9
Use a tool to carefully crack open and remove the dough seal. Lift the lid to reveal the stew. Portion the tender lamb into bowls, ladle the red wine sauce over it, and serve with the garlic toast, a sprinkle of fresh parsley, and any remaining sauce on the side.

Provençal Red Wine Braised Lamb with Garlic Toast

Ingredients

Steps

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