French Gourmet Lamb, Sausage, And Vegetable Stew

Total Time: 3 hrs 45 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 10
• 2 cups dried beans (such as cannellini, borlotti, or great northern or diced potatoes added 30 minutes before cooking is)
• 5 -6 lbs trimmed boneless lamb shoulder
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed, peeled
• 1 medium bouquet garni
• 5 juniper berries, crushed with the side of a knife, tied up in cheesecloth (or 3 tsps. gin or equal parts crushed bay leaves and caraway seeds)
• 1 lb thick slab bacon, preferably with rind, left whole
• 1 large cabbage (preferably savoy)
• 1 lb lamb or 1 lb garlic sausage
• 2 large carrots
• 1 medium turnip
• 1 medium onion, peeled
• 2 cloves
• salt
• 10 slices thick toasted french bread

Recipe

• 1 rinse beans and soak beans overnight or at least 4 hours with as much water to cover them entirely as they expand.
• 2 to serve this rich stew as a first-course soup, cut cabbages into wedges and as thinly as possible.
• 3 all vegetables and meats are cut into cubes or diced and add more liquid.
• 4 use only half of the lamb shoulder.
• 5 trim off excess fat from lamb shoulder.
• 6 tie the shoulder into an oval and put it in a large pot, ideally just wide enough to hold the shoulder with the shoulder bone if there was one.
• 7 add garlic, bouquet garni, juniper berries.
• 8 pour in enough cold water to cover and bring to a gentle simmer.
• 9 cut the rind off the bacon and add to liquid with lamb shoulder.
• 10 simmer very gently uncovered, using ladle to skim off fat and froth.
• 11 cut cabbage into 10 wedges.
• 12 remove strip of core at inner edges.
• 13 when the shoulder has cooked for 1 17" hours, add the beans.
• 14 simmer for 30 minutes more and nestle in the cabbage wedges, sausage, and the rest of the vegetables.
• 15 simmer for one hour more.
• 16 the lamb cooks for a total of 3 hours.
• 17 strain contents of pot and set over a bowl or clean pot.
• 18 discard bouquet garni and shoulder bone.
• 19 skim off a bit of the fat.
• 20 season the broth to taste with salt.
• 21 slice the meats.
• 22 serve broth and vegetables in bowls, each with a slice of toast at the bottom of each bowl and the meats placed on top.