Alain Ducasse's Gigot d'Agneau de Sept Heures
Here is the French seven-hour roast lamb recipe by the French chef Alain Ducasse.
Ingredients
For the pâte morte (see note below):
- 300 g flour +3 table spoons
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 egg
For the gigot d'agneau:
- 1 leg of lamb (1.4kg)
- 1 head of garlic
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 2 slices of bacon (2mm thick)
- 10 cl dry white wine
- 25 cl veal stock
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
Instructions
For the pâte morte:
- In a mixing bowl, put the flour and a pinch of salt. Add the egg and 15cl of water. Mix well until you obtain an elastic dough.
- Put the dough on a piece of floured cling film. Wrap it in the film as for a papillote. Let it rest for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
For the gigot d'agneau:
- Clean and tie the lamb. Season all over with salt and pepper and let it rest at room temperature.
- Separate the garlic cloves. Peel the onion and the carrot. Wash the carrot, cut it into four lengthwise, then into small cubes. Cut the onion in half and chop it.
- Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven. Add the lamb to the rounded side. Brown it for 5 minutes over high heat on all sides, basting it with the oil. Remove the lamb from the dutch oven and set it aside.
- Put the garlic cloves, carrot, and onion in the dutch oven, salt. Add the bacon and sauté for 1 minute over low heat, stirring. Add the white wine, mix, then let it evaporate completely over medium heat, without letting it burn.
- Put the lamb back in the dutch oven, rounded side up, placing it on top of the vegetables. Pour the veal stock around. Add the thyme and bay leaf.
- Clean the edges of the casserole with a wet brush and bring to a boil.
- Lightly flour the work surface and roll the pâte morte, stretching it to form a sausage 2 cm in diameter.
- Preheat the oven to 120°C/248°F. Run a damp brush around the lid of the dutch oven.
- Place the sausage of dough on the edge of the lid, pressing down to seal it well with the casserole. Bake and cook for 7 hours.
- At the end of cooking, take the casserole out of the oven. Peel off the dough with a knife, open the casserole and pass a damp brush over the edges. Remove the strings from the lamb and serve it with a spoon.
Notes
A pâte morte or pâte à luter is used as "cement" to hermetically close a dutch oven, in order to obtain stewing. This technique is also called "luter une cocotte." The name "pâte more" comes from the fact that this dough is not meant to be eaten.