Recipe 29: Slow-roasted lamb with boulangère potatoes

This is another adapted from Tom Kerridge’s book, a book that’s really proving its worth in this kitchen challenge.  This recipe is one I’d glanced at and got a little confused by the picture in the recipe book and simply moved on.  The picture of the recipe and the name stuck with me, however. And then, the other evening, while sharing a drink with friend Richard, we stumbled onto this as a topic of conversation and after discussion, I decided I’d be eating this at the weekend.

Now there are different bits of learning going on here; first there’s the roots of this type of cooking, which is simply that in the olden days of yore, before cookers everywhere, your French peasant-types would bung their potato and meat dish in bakers’ ovens once the bakers had baked their bread and the ovens were slowly cooling down, the peasant-types coming back at the end of the day to collect the slow cooked food. Lovely.  Second piece of learning is about waxy and floury potatoes. Now, I know there’s a difference and that maris pipers are floury, but beyond that, I knew as much as the name suggested. This recipe calls for waxy potatoes (although another I’ve consulted calls for floury). What really is the difference?

Well, simply put, your floury potatoes are ones that, once cooked, tend to mush up and crumble down (perfect for mash and your bashed-about roasties) and your waxy potatoes are ones that keep their shape and ‘density’ more once cooked, and as such are better for salads, dauphinoise, gratins and the like. Charlottes, maris peers, Jersey Royals and salad potatoes are good waxy ones and your King Edwards, reds in general and maris pipers are your common floury ones. In my ever-so-detailed research, I found out that you can test if a potato is one or the other in this, kitchen-science-experiment way (fun for all the family!):

Mix one part salt to 11 parts water in a measuring jug and add the potato. A floury one will almost always sink to the bottom of the jug, while a waxy one will float. (https://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/food_glossary/potatoes.html)

A second recipe for lamb boulangère I saw on the Waitrose site suggested adding anchovy fillets (although Tom’s doesn’t). Based on the amazing success I’ve had in using anchovies to add a bit of depth and excitement to sauces and lamb previously, I’m lumping on and popping some fillets in to adapt Tom’s recipe.

Ingredients:

6 large, waxy potatoes	1 head of garlic, separated into cloves, peeled
3 onions	600ml chicken stock
Leaves from one bunch of thyme	50g unsalted butter
Shoulder/leg of lamb	Salt and pepper to taste
4 anchovy fillets	Veg as preferred for side

Pre-head the oven to 130⁰c.

Layer the thinly sliced potatoes, onions, thyme in a roasting dish and top with mashed up anchovy fillets (but save some for atop the lamb).

Use a knife to piece the skin of the lamb and pop a clove of garlic into each. Put the meat on the layered potatoes and spread a little mashed up anchovy over the lamb.

Melt the butter into the stock and pour it over the lamb and potatoes.

Put the roasting tray into the oven and leave for 4-5 hours until the lamb tender and potatoes cooked through. Once removed, cover with foil and leave to rest for 20 minutes before carving up.

Today’s learning:

1.       The liquid the potatoes and things have been cooked in is quite delicious – good idea to add the anchovies

2.       With a smaller piece of lamb, pop it in a little after the potatoes (they’ll need five hours) so that it isn’t overdone.

3.       When the lamb is resting, it will ooze out delightful juices; use these to make a gravy to supplement the delicious liquor from the potatoes.

Recipe adapted from: Kerridge, T. (2013). Proper Pub Food. Bath: Absolute Press.