SLOW COOKED LAMB & QUINCE

Slow-cooked lamb with quince has roots in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern culinary traditions, where lamb is a staple and quince, an aromatic, tart fruit, has been cooked since antiquity. Dishes combining meat and quince appear in Persian, Ottoman and Levantine cuisines (think medieval Persian stews and Ottoman palace menus) and were later adapted across Greece and neighbouring regions, blending slow braising techniques, spices like cinnamon and clove, and sweet sour flavour balances to create the tender, fragrant lamb and quince stews enjoyed today.

The best part about this combination is that both lamb and quince love the exact same thing, which is being cooked slowly and gently over a long period of time. The quince slowly softens from the incredibly hard fruit, whilst not falling apart, turning an deep orange to amber colour, whilst the lamb slowly cooks and begins to fall apart, so that when it’s served all you need is a couple forks and a spoon.

SLOW COOKED LAMB & QUINCE

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SLOW COOKED LAMB & QUINCE 〰️

Time: 4 hours + 30 minutes

Serves: 8-10, as a main

1.5-2kg lamb leg on bone

1 tbl sp gr cinnamon

1 tbl sp all spice

1/2 tea sp gr clove

1 lemon (zest & juice)

3 garlic cloves (minced)

1/4 cup honey

20 strands saffron

70gm tomato paste

2 cups white wine

2 quince

1 brown onion (quartered)

6-10 fresh thyme sprigs

Olive oil & salt

Garnish: Pomegranate seeds & chiffonade fresh mint leaves

Preheat oven to 140 degrees Celsius.

Begin with prepping the lamb leg. Using a very sharp knife, carefully remove excess fat on lamb. A little thin layer is great, but you don’t want chunks of fat. Using the sharp knife, gently stab the lamb to create little holes to push the marinade in.

For marinade, mix together cinnamon, all spice, clove, lemon zest, garlic, honey, pinch of salt and a glug of olive oil and mix together with spoon until homogenous. Pour onto lamb and using your hands massage the marinade on and in to all the holes of lamb. Leave to side.

In mortal and pestle break down saffron threads. Pour 50ml of boiling water onto saffron and mix together until bright yellow. In large cast iron casserole place saffron water, tomato paste, white wine and a pinch of salt and mix together.

To prep quince, peel the outer skin off with peeler. Quarter long ways before removing core and cutting the pieces in half. In braising liquid add lamb in the middle, quince, onion and thyme sprigs.

Place in oven with lid on 2.5 - 3 hours (depending on the size of lamb you get). Remove lid and cook for another 20 - 30 minutes. Bring out from oven and allow to rest for minimum 30 minutes, longer if possible.

To plate up toss thyme sprigs, and them place quince and onion to the side. Using two forks shreds the lamb in the juices until completely shredded. Enjoy with rice and top with pomegranates, mint, a squeeze of lemon juice and salt to taste.