Daube Provencale

Wow. This was tasty. The key to the whole thing for me was just the zest of one orange. One orange's worth of zest brought enough of a citrusy punch to balance the whole thing out. And talk about easy....

I know I have mentioned the Anthony Bourdain cookbook, Les Halles Cookbook. I probably mentioned it alongside phrases like "...everything I have ever made out of this book has been not just good, but a knockout." Well, here's one more meal to toss onto the 'knockout' pile. It's just really perfect.

I made one minor change, which was to 'turn' 8 new potatoes and 8 sections of carrot, which were added in in the final 15 minutes, just to cook through, but not so long that they lost their vibrant color. I think it made the finished dish look more colorful and refined, not to mention they tasted really good with the soft, yummy lamb. There's no excuse for not trying this.

NOTE: "turning" vegetable is a cheffy trick to make vegetables resemble little oblong football-like shapes by carving them into shape. It's a trick I learned working at 8 King's Road and is considered a classic French preparation, as this dish is itself a classic French dish.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1.35 kg lamb neck and shoulder, with bones or 900g boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2 inch pieces
salt and pepper
225 g slab bacon, cut into lardons
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup white wine
1 cup strong, dark veal, chicken or lamb stock
1 small carrot, coarsely chopped
1 bouquet garni (2 sprigs parsley, 2 srpigs thyme, bay leaf, 6 black peppercorns, tied in a bundle)
zest of 1 orange
8 new potatoes, peeled and "turned"
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 1/2" lengths "turned"
4 sprigs of flat parsley, chopped

PREP THE LAMB
Heat the olive oil in the Dutch oven on high heat. Add the butter. Foam it. Let it subside. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Sear it on all sides in the hot pan, in batches if need be, until all of it is deep, dark brown. When browned, remove from the pan with the tongs and set aside.

COOK THE STEW
Add the bacon to the still-hot pan and cook until it's crispy and has rendered out its fat. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside. Discard most of the fat and then add the onion, celery, and garlic to the pan. Cook over medium-high heat until the vegetables have caramelized (browned), about 5 minutes. Using the wooden spoon, stir in the tomato paste and cook it for about 1 minute. Stir in the flour and cook for an additional minute. Stir in the wine and scrape up all that brown stuff. Bring the wine to a boil, reduce by half, then add the stock (and a teaspoon of demi-glace if you have any). Bring back to a boil and reduce immediately to a simmer. Add the lamb, carrot, bouquet garni, orange zest, and bacon. Season with salt and pepper, cover the pot, and simmer over low heat for about 90 minutes, occasionally skimming the fat from the surface of the stew. After 90 minutes, add the potatoes to the stew and cook until they are tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Skim the stew a final time, making sure there's no film of fat floating on the surface, then serve in a big old bowl, garnished with the chopped parsley.