Time To Share An Amazing Holiday Feast!
If you are looking to bite into something different this Easter weekend – time to go provencal!
This is “Gigot D’Agneau” – and it’s my favorite holiday meal, thanks to the incredible Chef / Author Patricia Wells!
Making “Gigot D’Agneau”, inspired by Cookbook Author and Food Writer Patricia Wells!
Alex and I got the chance to cook with Patricia at her house in Provence – an adventure of a lifetime! Here we are in front of a stove given to Patricia by Julia Child!
It was all part of a cooking adventure with the Author, who hosts cooking classes at her house in Provence, France.
It inspired me to make her classic roast lamb shank, which is baked on top of potatoes, onion and tomatoes so that the incredible juices from the lamb soak into the gratin!
A Provencal Easter Feast: “Gigot D’Agneau”
Patricia’s recipe for a roasted Lamb Shank is delicious! You cook the Lamb over a potato, onion and tomato base, which forms a terrific side dish!
First, preheat your oven to 400.
Rub the bottom of your roasting pan with a split piece of garlic. I also lay down a dozen slivers of butter to help the potatoes carmelize…then slice your potatoes and lay them down as the base of your dish…
On top of the potato I spread sliced onion…instead of chopped, I like them spread out as rings, and then I add chopped garlic. The amount is up to you…but a head of garlic and one large onion worked for me…
Next, slice tomatoes over the top of the onion – I used three tomatoes total, and I cut them in a larger chunk as they will melt down a bit during cooking – and then I season the dish with a healthy amount of salt, pepper and fresh thyme…
I used a leg of lamb that was just under six pounds. I got mine bone-in, which I think helps the flavor of the meat…Put the lamb shank on an oven rack, which you put directly over the vegetables…season the lamb with salt, pepper and fresh rosemary…
I roasted the lamb for about an hour and fifteen minutes…the thicker part was medium rare and the smaller side of the shank was medium, so it worked well for everyone!
I removed the lamb to a cutting board and let it rest for fifteen minutes – then sliced it up for everyone to enjoy…
And here is what that beautiful potato-onion-tomato looked like underneath….
This dish is delicious – the potatoes are caramelized on the bottom – so what side dishes go with this?
Chef Thomas Keller’s Ratatouille!
To honor Patricia Wells and her home in Provence, we served the lamb with several provencal-inspired dishes: first was a Ratatouille, which I made in the style of Chef Thomas Keller…
I began by making a roasted red bell pepper sauce, which I spread on the bottom of a gratin dish….
Then I cut yellow squash, green zucchini and eggplant with a mandolin and stacked them on top like this:
I actually enjoy laying this dish out, with the vegetables like casino chips! And when it came out of the oven, it looked like this:
If you want to make this and want a “step-by-step” recipe, just click on my story here:
Finally, I made a dish of provencal carrots and garlic with basil….you sear the carrots in a pan with butter for ten minutes, then add sliced garlic and cook slowly – and fold fresh basil in….guests can top the dish if they want with slivered black olives at the table…
Time To Dig In!
Once plated, the different colors will give your Easter table a festive look….
We served a 2004 Grenache that was signed by the winemaker…we got this bottle when we toured the Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine region:
Sometimes, I make a separate potato side dish as well – because it’s a classic Parisian “potato cake!”
This always gets a huge response when served – click here for the recipe:
There is nothing more fun than tackling a new recipe and having it turn out well:
I made this iconic Julia Child Boeuf Bourguignon recipe and it would be a great Easter feast as well…here is the step-by-step recipe:
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Let me know what you think of my Easter menu!
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Fine Dining, Food, Food Travel, Recipes, Travel, Wacky Food, Wine, World's Wildest Food
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ooooooh that lamb, covered in all of that beautiful rosemary, juicing up the potato dish. Fantastic!!!
Lots of feasting possibilities!
What do I think of your Easter menu? Do you have to ask? Absolutely my kind of food prepared just the way I love it 🙂 ! Especially with the rather famous ratatouille – enjoy and have a very happy holiday period !
this looks absolutely amazing and I imagine lots of wonderful leftovers –
We don’t cook anything special for Easter, but I did cook a whole leg of Lamb last Sunday. There is plenty left for a Lamb Curry over this weekend, with rice and Naan bread.
Best wishes, Pete.
That sounds great and it is important to have some leftover lamb recipes at hand because there are always some leftovers! Cheers to a great weekend Pete!
Looks like a proper feast!
Yes, it’s definitely for a group of people!
Nothing better than great food in good company