Spoon-Tender Lamb in Pomegranate sauce, with Garlic, Dates,Golden Raisins, Carrots, and Dried Apricots

I have wanted to cook slow-braised or "Seven Hour Lamb" since I read Melissa Clark's recipe in the New York Times. But leg of lamb is expensive, and I have had trouble finding the three pound cuts I used to see. Publix had only five to six pounders this week, all for over $40. I stopped at the Belle Meade Kroger, hoping for something smaller. More big legs, but wonder of wonders, all wore the "Manager's Special" label and were marked down to $26. I bought two, since lamb is my beef. As a friend of mine would say- I will be "eating on it" for a year.

I cooked one leg right away, but only after hacking and prying and sawing it in two, for I had no Dutch oven large enough to braise six pounds of meat. One half I slow braised, the other half I cut into chunks and soaked in red wine for twenty-four hours before using it in stew. My second six pound leg is packed into my increasingly full and dangerous freezer. A pork loin hurtled out at me last week during a frozen food avalanche and almost broke my foot. Every time I open the freezer door I have to retreat.

The recipes I had looked at all called for wine. But I decided to use a 15 oz can of chicken broth mixed with two tablespoons of pomegranate molasses. Pomegranate juice would have been too sweet. And instead of using potatoes, I kept the carrot and added a handful of dried apricots cut in half, half a dozen chopped dried dates, and half a cup of golden raisins. I also added a medium yellow onion, sauteed to golden and sweet.

I dried the lamb leg half, then seared it on all sides in olive oil in a big skillet. I seasoned it with sea salt and a dusting of cumin. Then I put it in a dutch oven. I surrounded it with the vegetables and fruit, added a tad more salt, then poured in the broth. I added a tablespoon of honey and five peeled whole cloves of garlic. I put the cover on the dutch oven and put it in the oven at 300 degrees. I knew 7 hours would be too long . Clark's recipe had warned me. My lamb was done at two and a half hours.

And yes, I checked it frequently. And yes, it was tender enough to cut through with a spoon. I paired it with couscous . And I used some of the braising liquid from the dutch oven to cook the couscous in- .

A delicious dish, though perhaps too exotic for the young or the provincial.It should feed four.


Here are the ingredients:

2-2 1/2 lb lamb leg

15 oz chicken broth

1 medium yellow onion, dice and sauteed in olive oil

5 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 large carrot, peeled and diced.

6 dates, chopped.

8-12 dried apricots, cut in half.

2 tbs Pomegranate molasses.

1 tablespoon of honey.

1 teaspoon cumin- half sprinkled on lamb, half added to braising liquid.

1/2 cup golden raisins (Sultanas)

Olive oil for searing lamb and cooking the onion.

Sea salt to taste. Add a dash to onions when you are sauteeing them. Add to taste in braising liquid.

One last word- should you have a dutch oven large enough to fit a six pound leg- double the ingredients. But I would urge that you not abandon it for seven hours in the oven. Four hours should be enough.