Lamb Breast

Wonderful succulent Lamb Breast 

 So - last month, I was looking at the meat section of Walmart and came across something called "Lamb Breast".  Lamb Breast?  What?  Never heard of it.  I took a gamble and put it in my cart.  It was cheap!  Not that I'm on a budget but I was intrigued. 

Went home and looked up about 2 dozen or so recipes.  Some called for Braising and some were Slow Cooker recipes and some were rolled and stuffed.  I'm not a fan of Slow Cookers and took a little of this and a little of that from what I read.  I like rosemary with my lamb for instance and white wine and I always brown my meat first so I created my own recipe and man was it good!  What a surprise. 

The meat itself is very odd.  Kind of like a cross between pork ribs and pork belly due to an immense amount of fat.
So I trimmed as much as I could from the cut and browned and rendered most of the fat out of the meat. 

Here is the recipe and trust me the flavor is outstanding!

2–3 lamb breasts – about 4 lbs

2 -3  medium onions, cut into chunks

2-3  carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch portions

 1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut in half or in quarters depending on size

6 garlic cloves minced  

1 cups chicken broth

1 cup white wine

1         Level Teaspoon KOSHER salt

2         1 teaspoon pepper

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon rosemary

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1  ½ cup  frozen baby peas

Trim as much fat as possible from the lamb breasts.  Make slits between the rib bones.

Mix together the olive oil, garlic, cumin, rosemary and paprika and salt and pepper and spread all over the lamb breast until covered.  Get into those crevices where you made the slits between the rib bones.

Place the lamb, in one layer, in a big Dutch oven or high sided skillet - and sear on both sides on high heat until nicely browned.  Lower heat and continue cooking for 20 min until the fat has rendered out of the lamb.   

There will be lots of fat ;-)

Remove lamb and put on the side.  Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of fat.  Add Onions and sauté until soft.    Add wine and chicken broth and carrots and put the lamb back into the pot on top of the veggies. 

Cover with parchment or foil and the pan cover - and cook in the oven at 250 degrees for approx. 3 hours.  Check at 2 hrs and see if the meat is tender enough to almost fall off the bones.. when that occurs add the potatoes and cook for another 30 min.   

Uncover and raise the heat to 400.  Add potatoes at this point. 

Cook for an additional 15-20 minutes until the meat is browned and the potatoes are done.   Add the peas and cook for 5-6 minutes more.   

Drain the juices into a fat separator and let sit until the fat comes to the top.  Put 2 tablespoons of the fat  into the pan and add flour – cooking over low heat for about 3-4  min until caramel colored – add juices.   

Put meat and veggies on a plate and pour gravy over the dish.