The Cookbook Store: Les Allobroges's Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic

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Les Allobroges's Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic

Souris d'Agneau Braisée à l'Ail Confit Les Allobroges

from The Paris Cookbook
Patricia Wells
As usual, Wells manages to adapt for the home cook recipes from both three-star restaurants and simple neighbourhood bistros. Black and white photos. $44.95.

Oliver Pateyron and his wife, Annette, are an energetic pair who run a lovely small restaurant, Les Allobroges, hidden at the edge of town. Such sublime and simple fare as roasted Bresse chicken with a potato gratin, and these meaty lamb shanks flanked by whole cloves of garlic, can usually be found on the brief menu. I sampled these tender shanks on my first visit years ago, and I keep coming back for more. Chef Pateyron first roasts the shanks, then braises them in a mixture of sweet Banyuls wine from France's southwest and a touch of veal stock. The result is meat with a glistening mahogany color and a thick, voluptuously shiny dark sauce. Serve it with the chef's brilliant version of Garlic Confit (page 291).

4 teaspoons Quatre Epices (see below)
4 meaty lamb shanks (each about 1 pound; do not trim the external fat)
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground white pepper to taste
1 cup Banyuls wine, vin doux naturel from Provence, or Port
1 quart Homemade Chicken Stock (page 297)
1 recipe Garlic Confit (page 291)

Equipment: A large roasting pan with a lid.

4 Servings.

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Rub the Quatre Epices all over the surface of the lamb shanks. Season them with sea salt and white pepper.

3. Stand the shanks, wider side down, narrow end up, in a large roasting pan. Place the pan in the centre of the oven and roast, uncovered, for 1 hour.

4. Transfer the lamb to a platter and set aside. Off the heat, deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up any cooked bits that may have stuck to the bottom. Return the lamb to the pan standing on end, wider side down. Add the stock. Cover the pan and return it to the oven. Braise, without disturbing the meat, until the meat is very tender and just beginning to fall off the bone, about 1 1/2 hours.

5. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the lamb shanks to a warmed platter. Cover them with foil and let them rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a gravy boat. Serve, passing the sauce and the Garlic Confit.

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This simple meaty dish calls out for one of your best reds. My first choice would be a Cairanne from winemaker Marcel Richaud or a Gigondas from winemaker Jean-Pierre Cartier at Domaine les Gouberts. Alternatively, try one of the new up-and-coming wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon, such as a Corbières or a Minervois.

Lamb shanks -- which the French call souris -- are the shin portion of the legs. The fore shanks are the meatiest and the easiest to find (the rear shanks are usually sold attached to the whole leg of lamb.) The shank contains a good deal of connective tissue that produces a smooth, luxurious sauce when cooked by the very slow and moist heat of a braise.

Olivier says: "Do not trim the fat from the lamb shanks! The fat forms a sort of girdle, holding the lamb shanks together, and it also adds flavor, color and body to the final sauce.

A Good Wine for Cooking: Banyuls, a sweet fortified wine from the Pyrénées in France's southwest, is a powerful wine usually made from at least 75 percent Grenache grapes and aged for 2 years. It is a distant relation of Port. The best ones bear the name Rancio and come from the Domaine la Rectoire and du Mas Blanc. In Provence, one also finds some excellent vins doux naturels that are great for cooking. My favorites include the 16-percent-alcohol red vin doux natural from the cave coopérative in Rasteau, or the Grenache Rasteau Rancio from Domaine Bressy-Masson.

Les Allobroges
71, rue Grands-Champs
Paris 20
Telephone: 01 43 73 40 00
Métro: Maraîchers

Four-spice Blend

Quatre Épices

Quatre épices, literally, "four spices," is a classic, evenly flavored French seasoning used to flavor meats, terrines and beef or chicken stock, as well as dried vegetables, tomato sauces, marinades, wine sauces, and gingerbread. Prepare the mixture in small amounts, grinding the spices in a spice mill.

1 teaspoon allspice berries
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Equipment: A spice grinder or coffee mill

Makes 4 Teaspoons.

One by one, grind the allspice and cloves in a spice grinder. Combine the spices in a small bowl, add the freshly grated nutmeg and ground cinnamon, and use immediately.