Braised Lamb Shoulder and Fennel Vegetable

Ingredients

• 1 Shallot
• 1 Garlic clove
• 1 kg lamb shoulder (with skin, ready to cook)
• Salt
• 2 tbsp clarified butter
• 250 ml dry red wine
• 200 ml vegetable broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 sprigs Thyme
• 4 slices celery (very thin)
• vegetable oil (for frying)
• 2 bulbs large fennel
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp liquid honey
• pepper (ground)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Peel and halve the shallot, peel and crush the garlic. Remove all visible tendons and fat from the lamb shoulder, rub the skin with salt and cut crosswise into the meat. Sear all sides in hot clarified butter until browned, place so that the skin lies on the pot bottom and pour wine and broth over it; add garlic, shallot, bay leaf and two thyme sprigs, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Turn the shoulder, add more broth if needed, and simmer another 20 minutes.

2. 2.

   Preheat the oven to 250°C grill mode.

3. 3.

   While that cooks, fry the celery in hot oil for about 3 minutes until golden brown and drain on paper towels. Wash the fennel and cut along the stalks into 3-4 mm thick slices; steam in a pan with about 50 ml broth, then dry. Sauté the fennel slices in olive oil, deglaze with soy sauce, place on a plate and drizzle with honey. Remove the lamb from the pot, set it on a plate, grill for 5-10 minutes, adding fennel after about 5 minutes. Strain bay leaf, garlic, shallot and thyme from the sauce, add remaining broth if needed and bring to a boil once more. Take lamb and fennel out of the oven. Arrange fennel on plates, reserve one slice per plate. Slice the lamb and place it over the fennel, garnish with fennel and thyme, pour some sauce over, insert a celery chip on each, serve.

4. 4.

   Serve with red beet gnocchi if desired.