MYRA WALDO’S SWEDISH ROAST LAMB

SOURCE: CRAIG CLAIBORNE. THE NEW YORK TIMES COOKBOOK.

Mimi Sheraton listed this lamb dish in her 1001 Foods You Must Eat Before You Die. When Craig Claiborne secured and featured its know-hows from Myra Waldo, an airline food consultant and cookbook author who reputedly collects recipes from her globetrotting adventures, for The New York Times, the publication hailed the dinner-party centerpiece as a classic. The secret ingredients? Strongly brewed coffee to baste and buffer the half-done mutton and its olfactory overtones, and mildly sweet cream to provide a rich, smooth, glossy gravy. As odd the pairing of lamb and coffee may seem, the union has long been instilled among daring Swedes, who have elevated everyone’s favorite caffeinated beverage into an essential in their traditional meat cookery.

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb, weighing 5 pounds/2.27 kilograms

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

3 onions, sliced into quarters

3 carrots, sliced into quarters

1 cup/250 mL hot lamb stock, beef stock, OR chicken stock

1 1/2 cup/375 mL hot strong coffee, unsweetened

1/2 cup/125 mL heavy cream

1 tablespoon/13 grams granulated sugar

Specific Equipment

Roasting rack

Roasting pan

Brush OR bulb baster

Food processor OR vegetable mill

Serves 6 to 8

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F/220°C.

2. Season the leg of lamb with salt and pepper. Place the leg of lamb on a roasting rack and set the roasting rack in a roasting pan. Surround the roasting pan with quartered slices of onions and carrots.

3. Roast the lamb inside the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and skim off the fat from the bottom of the roasting pan.

4. Combine the lamb, beef, or chicken stock, coffee, heavy cream, and sugar, and pour the mixture into the lamb.

5. Return the lamb into the oven and lower the temperature to 350°F/180°C. Continue roasting while frequently basting the lamb with the coffee mixture from the pan, for another 40 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the desired degree of doneness.

6. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and transfer the leg of lamb to a serving platter to rest its juices.

7. While the lamb is resting, purée the vegetables and the liquid from the bottom of the roasting pan with a vegetable mill or a food processor until the sauce becomes smooth. Pour the coffee-flavored gravy over the leg of lamb, if desired.