This recipe is from author Kathleen Flinn’s The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World’s Most Famous Cooking School
Read our review and interview with Kathleen Flinn.
Ingredients
- Lamb and Marinade
- ¾ cup (80g) high-quality olives, pitted
- 1 tablespoon coarse salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 cup mixed fresh herbs, chopped
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 4½ to 5 pounds (2 to 2.5 kg) boneless leg of lamb, butterflied
- Beans
- 4 ounces (125 g) salt pork or unsmoked bacon, cubed
- 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 medium carrots, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 pound (500 g) dry beans, soaked overnight, drained
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, or 1 tablespoon dry
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 quarts (2 1) chicken stock
- 1 (14-ounce) can chopped, seeded tomatoes
- 2 (16-ounce) cans artichoke hearts, drained
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Salt and pepper
- Hot sauce, such as Tabasco®
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Preparation
- 1 Marinade: Combine the ingredients in a small food processor. Blend until the olives and garlic are minced and the mixture emulsifies. Slather this on the lamb, set it into a nonreative bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Marinate as noted above.
- 2 Start the beans in a large Dutch oven by cooking the salt pork or bacon slowly over low heat until browned. Add the onions and carrots and cook until softened. Add the beans, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, and enough chicken stock to cover the beans by about three inches. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook uncovered for 1½ hours. Do not add salt; it will toughen the beans. Add water or stock to keep beans moist. Add the tomatoes and artichoke hearts, then simmer for another half hour.
- 3 To start the lamb: Discard marinade; pat the meat dry with paper towels. When the grill is hot, start cooking the lamb with the fat side down, about fifteen to twenty minutes per side or until a meat thermometer reaches 125º F/51º C for medium-rare. Let lamb rest for ten minutes before slicing. Finish beans with butter, salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Remove bay leaves; stir in chopped parsley. Serve with sliced lamb.
