Seven-hour lamb

Seven-hour lamb

Slow cooked, melt-in-the-mouth meat that needs 7 hours in the oven but little more than 7 minutes work for the chef

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 7 hrs 30 mins

Freezable

Method

  1. Heat oven to 120C/fan 100C/gas ½. Put your largest lidded casserole on the hob and brown the seasoned leg of lamb on all sides - do this very thoroughly until it is a good dark brown as it will not brown during the cooking. (If you don't do it now, it will end up beige.) If the lamb sticks, add a drizzle of oil - legs of lamb differ. Allow 10 mins on a high heat and put on the cooker fan to remove the smoke. Pour away any fat that has collected in the bottom of the pan.
  2. Throw in the vegetables, followed by the wine and stock. Season and bring to the boil, then clap on the lid and put in the oven. Bake for 7 hrs, turning twice. After 5 hrs the meat will be cooked and offer no resistance to the knife.
  3. There is no need to rest the meat when cooked in this way, but to finish the sauce, transfer the meat and vegetables to a serving dish. Strain the sauce into a jug and pour or blot away the fat with kitchen paper. Pour the sauce into a pan then boil the liquid hard to reduce by a quarter, by which time it will be rich and flavoursome. Adjust seasoning, add the Armagnac if you wish, and serve alongside the lamb, which should be served with a spoon, a la cuillère as the French call it.

Per serving

743 kcalories, protein 73.0g, carbohydrate 14.0g, fat 41.0 g, saturated fat 20.0g, fibre 3.0g, salt 1.0 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2005.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo Vic

    31 October 2007

    Vic rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    One of the best ways to cook lamb - particularly as it needs so very little attention once it's on the go.

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  • Binder photo Elaine

    31 October 2007

    Elaine rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this for proper foodie friends and they were suitably impressed. Needs very little prep and you get lots of lovely leftovers, too.

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  • Binder photo Elaine

    31 October 2007

    Elaine commented on this recipe

    Made this for proper foodie friends and they were suitably impressed. Needs very little prep and you get lots of lovely leftovers, too.

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  • Binder photo jenkins

    31 October 2007

    jenkins commented on this recipe

    This sounds great. Would it be possible to cook this in a Slo-Cooker instead of putting it on the hob?

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  • Binder photo Philippa

    01 November 2007

    Philippa rated this recipe

    2 stars

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  • Binder photo malcolm

    16 November 2007

    malcolm commented on this recipe

    I do this in red wine in a slow cooker

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  • Binder photo Soniafood

    19 December 2007

    Soniafood rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I have made this twice now, once at Easter for family and just this Saturday as part of a Christmas meal for friends. Both times I have been asked for the receipe, which to me always shows that people have enjoyed it. I would say it is practically foolproof and totally delicious.

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  • Binder photo Tatjana

    11 January 2008

    Tatjana rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made it last Easter. Best lamb ever. Tried at Xmas other recipe but after 7 hours lamb just wasn't good enough.

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  • Binder photo evelyn

    20 January 2008

    evelyn rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    cooked lamb to serve in restaurant .loved it.

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  • Binder photo Pauline

    09 February 2008

    Pauline commented on this recipe

    Easy to do. Smells & tastes fantastic. My friends loved it.

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  • Binder photo Collette

    02 March 2008

    Collette commented on this recipe

    Just made this today and it was delicious - and so easy. Blitzed the gravy once I had taken out the carrots and lamb and skimmed off excess fat, added a little bit of creme fraiche too. Would make it again for sure and maybe try it with red wine instead of white some time. Served it with Dauphinoise potatoes - yum!!

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  • Binder photo Collette

    02 March 2008

    Collette rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Marilyn

    23 March 2008

    Marilyn rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This method of cooking lamb has become my family's favourite. None of them were previously keen on lamb, but they'll gobble it up if I cook it this way. I highly recommend it.

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  • Binder photo Gill

    05 May 2008

    Gill rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    I was a bit disappointed with this after reading all the reviews. Tasted very nce but not somthing I will rush to do again.

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  • Binder photo Jules

    29 September 2008

    Jules commented on this recipe

    Cooked this on the hob on low flame. Very good.

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  • Binder photo Vix

    11 October 2008

    Vix rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I cooked this for friends and they all raved about it. I served it with the Dauphinoise potatoes and they went really well with it. The meat was really tender. Yum

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  • Binder photo Yummy!

    18 October 2008

    Yummy! commented on this recipe

    If you want a table full of "mmmm" sounds then this is the dish to cook for friends! The recipe says 3kg leg of lamb for 6 people, but I found that 2.6kg was so large I could barely fit it in my biggest pot and I had plenty of leftovers the next day too. Definitely will be cooking this again!

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  • Binder photo Gaby

    20 October 2008

    Gaby rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely amazing, I used a half leg of lamb, knuckle end and it just fitted my cast iron pot. The meat just fell apart and tasted wonderful. To get the rich tasting sauce be sure to reduce well, it changes to a very slightly thicker consistency. I tasted this at Orlando's B & B in France and just had to make it

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  • Binder photo Fay

    27 October 2008

    Fay rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Fantastically easy and delicious.

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  • Binder photo Louise

    18 November 2008

    Louise rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    hmm not sure about this really. It was nice and my husband thought it was much better than your average roast lamb but i was a little dissapointed, it was tender-ish but it was not as meltingly soft as i'd hoped and could definately not be served with a spoon. if you are looking for a soft slow cooked meat dish i would recomend the Aromatic Slow Cooked Pork by the lovely Nigella

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 7 hrs 30 mins

Freezable

Ingredients

  • 1 large leg of lamb , about 3kg/6lb 8oz
  • 4 onions , sliced
  • 8 garlic cloves , peeled, but left whole
  • 4 carrots , leave whole if small or quarter lengthways
  • 300ml white wine
  • 300ml stock , use what you have
  • 2 tbsp Armagnac or Madeira, optional, to finish
  • thyme sprigs, to finish
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Per serving

743 kcalories, protein 73.0g, carbohydrate 14.0g, fat 41.0 g, saturated fat 20.0g, fibre 3.0g, salt 1.0 g

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