When we heard that our friends from Paris are coming for a visit and bringing a great bottle of Syrah to share we wanted to make a French dish that would pair well with it.
So what could we cook to go along with 2003 Syrah Leone by Domaine Peyre Rose Coteaux from Languedoc?
Naturally, South of France cuisine and lamb came to mind. After combing through our cookbooks, we found a recipe for Stew Provencal - quintessential slow-food dish. The main ingredients are lamb, wine, patience and lots of work.
The dish came out delicious, and our French friends kept going back to the pot to have some more. So if you're in the mood for lip-smacking French food that pairs great with Southern France wines, roll your sleeves.
You can make it in a day, but for the best results, it might take two.
How to Make Lamb Stew Provencal
You will need four pounds of shoulder of lamb, one litter (4 1/2 cups) of good white wine, eight slices of uncured bacon, three carrots, five onions, two tomatoes, eight cloves of garlic, fresh thyme and rosemary, fresh parsley, two whole cloves, black and white peppercorns, two bay leaves, zest of one orange.
First, you will need to marinade the lamb for six to twelve hours. To prepare, de-bone meat, leaving little meat on the bones. Trim as much fat as possible and cut lamb to medium pieces (50g). Spike one onion with two cloves. Finely dice the onions and tomatoes, and thinly slice the carrots.
Place meat and bones, onions, carrots, garlic, onion spiked with cloves, bay leaves, one sprig rosemary, thyme, parsley, orange zest and peppercorns in a large bowl. Season with salt and add a pinch of nutmeg. Marinate in white wine for six to twelve hours. If you don't have or don't want to use two bottles of white wine you can substitute some wine with water. As for wine, use the good stuff - a wine that you would drink. It's your liver that's on the line for bad wine.
After the marinating period remove orange zest and save it. Discard the spike onion. Drain the marinade and keep it. Separate lamb and bones from diced veggies.
Fry chopped bacon in two spoons of sunflower oil. Take the bacon out and save it. Brown the meat in bacon fat and remove it from the pan. Saute onions and carrots in the same pan.
Now return all the ingredients into the pan and add saved orange zest. Pour the marinade over meat and vegetables and bring it to boil.
Simmer the casserole for two and a half hours. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.
We roasted small red potatoes cut in half with rosemary and went well with Provencal Stew.
With all the flavor elements, dish and wine complimented each other well. It might be challenging to find 2003 Domaine Peyre Rose Coteaux du Languedoc Clos Syrah Leone in the United States. But there are other great red wines made in Southern France that can pair just as well with Provencal Stew. Make a celebration out of it and reward yourself with a great bottle of wine for cooking a dish for two days.
