From Rick Stein’s French Odyssey
Planning
| serves: | 4 |
| preparation time: | 30 mins |
| cooking time: | 3 hrs |
Ingredients
- 225g dried flageolet beans, soaked overnight
- 1 shoulder of lamb (~2kg cut into 3cm chunks)
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 7 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tbs tomato purée
- 500g vine tomatoes skinned, deseeded & chopped
- 300ml rosé wine
- 600ml chicken or lamb stock
- Bouquet garni of thyme sprigs & bay leaves
- Large handful of flat leaf parsley
- 2 tbs plain flour
- salt & pepper
Method
Drain the beans, cover with fresh water and boil until tender removing all scum as they boil.
Season the chunks of lamb before browning in 2 tbs of oil in a large flameproof casserole. Put the lamb to one side and add the rest of the oil to the pan. Fry the onions until lightly golden then add 5 cloves of garlic and fry for another minute. Now add tomato puree and tomatoes and fry for a further two minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 mins, return the lamb to the pan, pour in the wine and bring to the boil. Simmer rapidly until the wine has reduced by half. Add enough stock to just cover the meat and add the bouquet garni, a teaspoon of sea salt and plenty of black pepper. Part cover the pot and simmer for 1 hour or until the lamb is tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened.
Add the cooked flageolets and simmer uncovered for a further 5 – 10 mins until the beans have heated through. taste for seasoning.
Make some persillade by crushing 2 garlic gloves with the blade of a knife and chopping together finely with the parsley. Sprinkle this over the ragout and serve.
(Rick suggests serving this with tubetti pasta but I’d prefer some green vegetables or, at a push, ribbon noodles.)
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