It's difficult to overstate the importance of shepherding in the Sardinian economy, even now that the island is a magnet for tourists who flock to the coastal towns -- inland it's just as dry and barren as it ever was, and the animals that thrive best are sheep. Hence Sardinia's renowned pecorino cheese (they make both pecorino sardo and the saltier pecorino romano), Sardinian wool (my father collected Sardinian rugs), and -- of course -- lamb. Here we have a leg, stuffed. To serve 6:
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 90 minutes
Ingredients:
- A leg of lamb, weighing about 4 1/2 pounds (2 k)
- 1/2 pound (225 g) minced lamb
- 1/4 pound (110 g) fresh mild sausage, casing removed and crumbled
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup (50 g) dry bread crumbs
- 1 2/3 pounds (750 g) plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded and chopped -- canned tomatoes will also work
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- A small bunch parsley, minced
- A medium onion, peeled and minced
- 2/5 cup (100 ml) olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Butcher's twine
Preparation:
Bone the leg of lamb, working carefully to obtain a single piece of meat you can flatten out.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan or Dutch oven large enough to contain the leg of lamb and sauté the minced garlic, parsley and onion until the onion is a translucent gold. Remove the mixture from the saucepan to a bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving the pan drippings behind. When the onion mixture has cooled, work into it the minced lamb, sausage, eggs, and bread crumbs. Work the mixture until it is homogenous and season it to taste with salt and pepper. Spread the mixture over the inner side of the leg of lamb. Roll the leg up tightly and tie it with the twine lest the stuffing escape as the meat cooks.
Reheat the pan drippings in the saucepan and brown the meat, turning it to get all sides. Add the tomatoes, crumbling them between your fingers, add enough water to reach part-way up the sides of the pot, and simmer everything gently for at east an hour, until the meat is quite tender.
When the meat is done, remove it from the pot. Remove and discard the string, and slice the leg, arranging the pieces on a warmed platter. Spoon the sauce over it and serve at once. A wine? Red, and Canonau would be quite nice here.
Variations: Some people use cured lard instead of sausage, and you can also use coarsely ground semolina instead of bread crumbs.
One thing: The cooking time of this recipe may strike you as long, if you are used to rare lamb. Italians as a rule prefer their lamb well done -- my father-in-law would return it to the pot or oven if he saw blood -- and a couple of people have written to tell me that they had never liked lamb, until they had it well done.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan or Dutch oven large enough to contain the leg of lamb and sauté the minced garlic, parsley and onion until the onion is a translucent gold. Remove the mixture from the saucepan to a bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving the pan drippings behind. When the onion mixture has cooled, work into it the minced lamb, sausage, eggs, and bread crumbs. Work the mixture until it is homogenous and season it to taste with salt and pepper. Spread the mixture over the inner side of the leg of lamb. Roll the leg up tightly and tie it with the twine lest the stuffing escape as the meat cooks.
Reheat the pan drippings in the saucepan and brown the meat, turning it to get all sides. Add the tomatoes, crumbling them between your fingers, add enough water to reach part-way up the sides of the pot, and simmer everything gently for at east an hour, until the meat is quite tender.
When the meat is done, remove it from the pot. Remove and discard the string, and slice the leg, arranging the pieces on a warmed platter. Spoon the sauce over it and serve at once. A wine? Red, and Canonau would be quite nice here.
Variations: Some people use cured lard instead of sausage, and you can also use coarsely ground semolina instead of bread crumbs.
One thing: The cooking time of this recipe may strike you as long, if you are used to rare lamb. Italians as a rule prefer their lamb well done -- my father-in-law would return it to the pot or oven if he saw blood -- and a couple of people have written to tell me that they had never liked lamb, until they had it well done.
