Recipe Fakde — Leg of lamb

The leg of lamb is the dish for special days and the star of our festive meals. It is placed in the center of the table and served by the man of the house. Ideally, the leg of lamb is cooked on the bone to take advantage of all its flavors. And don't forget to save the cooking juices to serve it in a sauce.

Ingredients

115 g (½ cup) unsalted butter or ghee

1 leg of lamb (2 kg)

3 celery stalks, with leaves

2 carrots

1 onion, halved

parsley leaves

4 cardamom pods

3 cinnamon sticks

3 bay leaves

3 slices of fresh ginger

1 ½ tsp. peppercorns

½ tsp. salt

1 punnet of coffee mushrooms

200 g (1 cup) baby potatoes

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). In a large pot, melt the butter or ghee. When hot, sear the leg of lamb on all surfaces. Cover one-third with water. Add the celery, carrots, onion, parsley, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, ginger, pepper and salt.

Bake for about 4 hours or until the meat is tender and flakes with a fork. After 2 hours of cooking, add the mushrooms and potatoes.

Transfer the leg of lamb to a large serving platter. Arrange carrots, mushrooms and potatoes around.

In a sieve, strain the cooking juices (discard the other vegetables), then pour the liquid into a bowl or a sauce boat. Serve with meat, vegetables and smoked wheat (see the recipe in the book).

Note

To add more flavor to your lamb, you can replace 250 ml (1 cup) of water with 250 ml (1 cup) of white wine.

The whole souk of Damascus

Seven Aleppo spices