IGP Gigot/haunch of Suckling Milk-fed Lamb from Pyrenees

Tasting Notes from the Curator

This Red Label ( Label Rouge ) and IGP certified lambs are exclusively milk fed from their mothers. They spends most of their time in the sheepfold or outside with their mothers. The ewes spend a minimum of 8 months in the pasture, and most of them go to summer pastures. This is the main part of the lamb, the famous leg, which is the hind leg of the animal and is simply the most consumed part of the lamb. A piece that is also known as the shortened leg (when the saddle is removed). As far as preparations are concerned, the leg of lamb is often eaten roasted, at Easter but not only…

Preparation or Pairings

The simplest way to cook a leg of lamb, is to oven roast it, with garlic and olive oil. To celebrate spring, we put together this recipe:

Roasted leg of lamb with wild garlic and asparagus risotto

Ingredients for 4 people

for the meat

• 1 leg of lamb,
  • salt and pepper
• 150 g wild garlic mixture

for the wild garlic preparation

• 100 g wild garlic
• 10 cl of olive oil

for the risotto

• 200 g risotto rice (Carnaroli type)
• 1 onion and 3 cl of olive oil to brown it
• 10 cl of white wine
• ½ l chicken stock
• 500 g white asparagus
• 100 g of butter
• 100 g grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon of wild garlic
• 1 bunch of chopped chives

Realisation

The day before, you can chop the wild garlic and blend it with the olive oil.

The next day, about 3 hours before cooking (or at least 1 hour before), brush the leg of lamb with the wild garlic mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Let it rest in a cool place.

During this time, peel the asparagus and keep it in cold water.

Peel and chop the onion.

Finely chop the bunch of chives.

Brown the leg of lamb on all sides then put it in the oven at 180°c for about 25 minutes (per kilo).

Take the leg out of the oven, keep it warm under a sheet of aluminum foil and let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

In the meantime, cut the asparagus in half lengthwise, then cut them into 3 cm long sticks.

Sweat the onion in olive oil and add the rice. Make everything “pearly” (the rice must get a glassy aspect).

Add the white wine and then the chicken stock, not all at once but as it is absorbed by the rice. Work uncovered. Halfway through cooking, after about 12 minutes, add the asparagus in sticks.

Once the risotto is cooked, add the diced butter first, then the parmesan.

Add a spoonful of wild garlic and chopped chives.

To serve, place the asparagus risotto on a warm plate and place a slice of lamb on top.

You can place a sprout of peas on the slice of lamb.

Serve on the side a sauceboat of lamb juice that you will have obtained by simply deglazing the cooking plate of the leg of lamb with a little water.

Enjoy this leg of lamb with a nice glass of red wine, a pinot noir from Alsace for example or a Bordeaux wine like Pauillac.

Storage Instructions

Store in your refrigerator. Shelf life is 2 weeks from arrival.