Yummy Workshop

Ingre­di­ents

• 3½ pounds bone­less lamb shoul­der or leg
• 2 tea­spoons kosher salt
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 7 plump cloves gar­lic, crushed and peeled
• ½ tea­spoons hot red pep­per flakes, or to taste
• 2 table­spoons fresh rose­mary leaves, stripped from the branch
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 table­spoons red-wine vinegar
• 1½ cups brine-cured green Ital­ian olives or oil-cured black Ital­ian olives, crushed and pitted

Method

1. Trim the exte­rior fat from the lam shoul­der or leg, and cut the meat into 2-inch pieces, remov­ing fat and bits of car­ti­lage as you find them. Pat the pieces dry with paper tow­els, and sea­son all over with half the salt.
2. Pour the olive oil into a Dutch oven, and set it over medium heat. Scat­ter in the crushed gar­lic cloves and red pep­per flakes. When the gar­lic is siz­zling, lay in the lamb pieces in one layer, scat­ter the rose­mary on top, and sea­son with the remain­ing salt. When the meat starts to siz­zle, cover the pan, lower the heat, and let cook gen­tly, brown­ing slowly and releas­ing its fat and juices, about 10 min­utes. Uncover the pan, turn the pieces, and move them around the pan to cook evenly; then cover, and cook for another 10 min­utes. Turn again, and con­tinue cook­ing, cov­ered, for another 10 to 15 min­utes, juice have thick­ened and caramelized. (If there is a lot of fat in the pan, tilt the skil­let and spoon off the fat from one side.)
3. Stir the wine and vine­gar together, and pour them into the skil­let, swirling them with the pan juices. Bring the liq­uids to a boil, and cook them down quickly to form a syrupy sauce. Drop the olives into the pan, all around the lamb chunks, then cover, and adjust the heat so the liq­uid main­tains a bub­bly sim­mer. Cook for another 10 min­utes or so, which will con­cen­trate the juices and marry the fla­vors. Cook uncov­ered for a few final min­utes, tum­bling the meat and olives in the pan, coat­ing them with the sauce.
4. Serve right from the skil­let, or heap the meat chunks on a plat­ter or in a shal­low serv­ing bowl. Spoon out any sauce and olives left in the pan, and driz­zle over lamb.

Notes