LAMB SHOULDER WITH HEADS OF GARLIC

RECIPE: Lamb Shoulder Stew with Four Heads of Garlic
Adapted by Bill St. John from “New Menus from Simca’s Cuisine,” by Simca Beck (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979). Trust me (and Simca Beck, the French cooking maven) on the measurements for this recipe. The large amount of garlic morphs into a beautiful, seductively aromatic, long-tasting sweetness. Serves 6-8; easily halved.

Ingredients
4 pounds lamb shoulder
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dry white wine or light apple juice
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 heads of garlic, crushed to separate the cloves but left unpeeled
1 bouquet garni of parsley and thyme sprigs and a bay leaf
2 cups homemade chicken stock
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Directions
Trim and cut the lamb into largish (1/4-pound each) equal-size chunks. Dry off the pieces of lamb with paper toweling.

Cut out a circle of waxed or parchment paper (or aluminum foil), using the lid of a large heavy-bottomed casserole or Dutch oven as an outline. To the same pot, over medium-high heat, add the oil and brown well all the lamb pieces. Do this in as many batches as necessary to avoid crowding the pieces. Set the pieces aside.

Deglaze the pot with the white wine or apple juice, add back, and arrange the meat in a single layer. Salt and pepper, add the bouquet garni and all the garlic cloves, and sprinkle them around in a single layer. Add the stock and bring to a simmer atop the stove.

Place the round piece of paper or foil over the contents of the pot, cover and cook in a 375-degree oven for 90 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes, until the meat is very tender but not falling apart. Once or twice during cooking time, remove the pot from the oven and flip around the pieces of meat, placing the piece of paper back and covering the pot.

When done, transfer the pieces of meat to a platter, cover them with the piece of paper, and keep warm in the turned-off oven. Discard the bouquet garni.

Push the garlic cloves through a food mill to remove their fibrous skins or “paper.” (Or push it through a fine-meshed sieve with the back of a wooden spoon.) Set aside. Degrease the cooking liquid and, if you like, reduce it to concentrate its flavor. (You want to end up with about 1 and 1/2 cups of sauce.) Stir in the garlic purée, correct the seasoning, and keep it warm.

To serve, sauce the pieces of lamb; garnish with the chopped parsley.