Ingredients

serves 6

　　2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

　　3 fat cloves garlic, peeled, crushed, and minced

　　2 tablespoons fennel seeds

　　3 pounds lamb, cut from the leg, well-trimmed of its fat and cut into 3-inch chunks

　　Fine sea salt

　　Freshly cracked pepper

　　1 14-ounce can crushed plum tomatoes, with their juices

　　1 1/2 cups dry white wine

　　1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

　　2 tablespoons warmed white wine

　　

Step 1

In a small saucepan, warm 1/3 cup of the olive oil and soften the garlic in it for 2 minutes, without coloring it. Add the fennel seeds and permit them to perfume the oil for 1 minute. Place the prepared lamb in a large bowl, pour the warm oil over it and rub it well into the flesh of the lamb. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the lamb rest for 1 hour or up to 4 hours, in a cool place but not in the refrigerator.

　　

Step 2

In a large sauté pan, heat the remaining olive oil and in it brown on all sides the chunks of marinated lamb. Cook at one time only those pieces that will fit in the pan without touching. Salt and generously pepper the meat. As the lamb is browned, remove it to a holding plate.

　　

Step 3

Add the tomatoes and wine to the still-warm sauté pan, scraping, stirring at the residue and permitting the liquids to reduce for 5 minutes. In a small pan, toast the saffron threads lightly over a low flame for 1 minute. Dissolve them in the warmed white wine. Add the saffroned wine and reduce for another 30 seconds. Lower the flame, return the lamb to the sauté pan, and bring it to a gentle simmer. Cover with a skewed lid and braise the lamb for 1 hour or until the meat is soft.

　　

Step 4

Permit 1 hour’s rest before serving the lamb in shallow bowls with oven-toasted bread, or presenting it as a sauce for polenta (page 43). Or use some of its juices as a sauce for pasta before serving the lamb itself as a second course.

　　A Taste of Southern Italy