Provençal lamb with orange and fennel

Provençal lamb with orange and fennel and various fresh herbs is a traditional recipe from the South of France, hearty yet dripping in the sun-drenched flavours of the region. A rustic, slow-cooked meal, it's a dish that is easy to make and packed with nutritious vegetables.

On the lamb

Provençal lamb with orange and fennel with fresh herbs is a traditional recipe from the South of France, hearty yet dripping in the sun-drenched flavours of the region to which many artists flocked to capture the particular light. It's slow-cooked, best suited to when you have some time on your hands, though you can spend much of that time getting on with other things while it reaches perfection in the oven.

I first came across a version of Provençal lamb with orange, fennel and herbs in Avignon in a charming little bistro. But, that was a meal eaten a little too hurriedly with friends during the energetic frenzy of the famed festival. Thus, I didn't have the opportunity to pull my usual stunt and patiently wait for a chance to wheedle the recipe out of the chef. So, it wasn't until years later on a work trip to Aix-en-Provence when I encountered it again. On that occasion, the recipe practically fell into my lap.

The art historian who was my main contact for the project that brought me to France insisted that I come for dinner at her house. Not wanting to take advantage, I countered, suggesting that I invite her out for dinner. She smiled wryly. "Oh, don't worry about missing gastronomic opportunities: my husband is a chef."

And, indeed he was. Bernat was a big bear of a man with a suitably Occitan laissez-faire approach to the kitchen. He had worked for years in top Parisian restaurants before returning to his hometown to open his own bistro. He explained that, having mastered all the techniques of haute cuisine and getting caught up in the pursuit of accolades, he had wanted to get back to basics. He had happily returned to the good, honest cooking of Provence, returned to the recipes and techniques of his mother and grandmother, the things that had first inspired him to become a chef.

Like his wife Marie-Jeanne, he was very generous and not only happily shared his recipe with me, but two days later, it also arrived in my inbox. I have remained in contact with them over the years and, aside from my selfish enjoyment of visiting them in France, I can at least say that it has become a more reciprocal friendship. Like many French people, they have fallen in love with Scotland and appreciated my recommendations of restaurants and sharing traditional Scottish recipes. But, I digress...

Down to the bone

As with many traditional French (and other European) dishes, this one uses a technique of first sealing the meat and specific vegetables in a hot pan on the hob before transferring to an ovenproof dish (Dutch oven) where they are layered with other raw vegetables, stock and wine and then slow-cooked in the oven.

As was explained to me, although this lamb would sometimes be cooked on the bone—for example, lamb shanks—it all comes down to the need for lamb stock. Traditionally, the canny women of Provence working on a tight budget would either cut the meat away from the bone (or buy cheaper lamb cuts and bones separately). The bones would then be used to make stock before cooking the dish.

Lamb of God

This is another of those dishes where the cooking method is almost a testimony to the relationship between cooking techniques and European legacies of Catholicism. It would often be served as a family lunch on Sundays, something that could be started before everyone bundled off to mass, slowly cooking in time to be ready when arriving home from church, particularly around Easter or during early spring in the period after Lent, through into summer when it would be enjoyed outdoors. But, it is also popular during the autumn—relatively mild if wet in Provence—when it's flavours carrying a memory of hot summers would be enjoyed with heartier side dishes.

So many sides

The first time I enjoyed the dish in Avignon, it was served with sautéed potatoes and salad. When I later learned the recipe in Aix-en-Provence, Bernat, the chef who taught it to me, served it with red Camargue rice, and the quintessentially Provençal sides of a seasonal salad and good bread, lightly toasted, rubbed with garlic and dressed with oil, a streamlined version of Catalan pa amb tomàquet. He explained that while the main dish often remained similar in most recipes in the region, the side dishes varied a lot, often seasonal. Potatoes, rice or lentils in colder months; often only bread and salad on warm nights. And it would often be served with seasonal vegetables not in the main dish cooked in a different manner—such as grilled leeks (poireaux) if the leeks were not used in the main dish. Other common options included carrots cooked in butter and dusted with spices such as nutmeg, wilted spinach or various pickles.

Salad of mixed leaves, chives and small capers dressed with vinaigrette with orange

Sidestepping

I'm serving it here with sautéd potatoes and a Provençal-style salad of mixed leaves, chives and small capers dressed with vinaigrette with a sparing amount of the juice of the orange used in the main dish to tease out that citrus note. I am also serving it with toasted rustic bread, rubbed with raw garlic and dressed with extra virgin olive oil. I can't resist it with this dish after eating it chez Bernat et Marie-Jeanne.

I prefer to use younger potatoes, scrubbed and sliced with their skins on, but it's up to you if you prefer them peeled. Provence favours olive oil where other French regions would use butter. I definitely prefer this slightly lighter feel given that the lamb is fairly rich, but, again, if you love butter, you can use it to sauté the potatoes. Incidentally, partly because of using olive oil, these Provençal-style sautéd potatoes are cooked to be crispier than the more classic French form.

If you don't like potatoes or are doing the low-carb thing, this dish works wonderfully with sweet potatoes baked in their skins in the oven.

Adding detail to those side dishes above, rice—even better if Caramgue rice or a mix off wild and long grain rice—is usually cooked in vegetable stock, as are lentils. Other options include whole onions roasted in the oven or preserved artichoke hearts.

If you really want to push the boat out, make a Jerusalem artichoke salad. While this misunderstood vegetable is popular as a soup ingredient in many parts of France, Provence is known for its topinambours à la barigoule, a main course that showcases Jerusalem artichokes. But, they also serve a slimmed-down cold version as a side dish. Cook the scrubbed Jerusalem artichokes in stock and white wine, adding sliced, pitted black olives just before draining. While still warm, dress with vinaigrette and chopped parsley. Allow to cool and serve cold.

In these quantities, this recipe will serve 3 to 4 diners, depending on appetite and side dishes. It scales up easily enough, but I don't recommend cooking it in smaller quantities—the liquid tends to cook off too quickly making the slow-cooking process less effective. However, it stores for a good few days in the fridge—the flavours become even richer after 48 hours—and freezes well.

For larger groups, I cook it simultaneously in two larger casserole dishes that can be directly taken to table. This is a great dish to share with others outdoors on warm evenings because a good casserole dish will keep it warm once cooked for at least an hour. Leave them in the turned-off oven and simply bring them out when everyone is ready to eat. This makes it a great dish for spending time with your guests before supper rather than having to mess about in the kitchen.

3 top tips to get this recipe right:

• The chef who taught me this recipe was absolutely insistent that the wine used here needs to be either white wine or rosé. This may seem counterintuitive in that it's more common to use red wine with lamb dishes. But, as Bernat explained, white and rosé wines balance the acidity of the orange. This makes complete sense for anyone who has ever been lectured by Italian chefs on using white wine in the early stages of cooking for any sauces with lots of tomatoes for exactly the same reasons to do with acidity.

• If you don't have a leek available, simply substitute with roughly the same weight in additional onions. Leeks (poireaux) are used quite a lot in Provençal cooking, often as a side dish, grilled or au gratin, and therefore some prefer to serve them as a side dish with this recipe rather than cooking them in.

• You can use lamb on the bone, e.g. lamb shanks. But it's better to use relatively large pieces of boneless lamb that has been sealed because meat on the bone is more likely to flake more quickly. I have tried both and now only ever do it with boneless lamb. I find that by the time the rest of the ingredients are optimally cooked, lamb shanks flake to the point that it's more like a thick lamb and vegetable "soup". Nonetheless, it's delicious. So you decide.

Shopping list

for the Provençal lamb with orange and fennel

• Approx. 500g boneless lamb; cut into fairly large pieces

• 2 medium onions, (red or brown); roughly chopped

• 1 leek; sliced

• 1 green bell pepper; cubed

• 1 sweet red pepper; sliced (or red bell pepper)

• 1 fresh ripe orange

• 2 medium fresh fennel; cut into fairly large pieces

• Approx. 170g fresh green beans; topped and tailed

• Approx. 4tbspns olive oil

• 4 cloves of smoked garlic; (or fresh garlic) finely chopped

• 3 or 4 stems of celery; washed and finely sliced

• 400ml dry white wine

• A very generous clutch of flat leaf parsley; chopped

• 500ml lamb stock (or vegetable stock)

• A generous clutch of fresh thyme

• A clutch of fresh rosemary

• Salt and black pepper, to taste

• 1 tbspn brown sugar (only if needed)

• 1 tbspn balsamic vinegar (only if needed)

  
  

for the sautéd potatoes

• 2 medium potatoes (or equivalent) per diner

• Virgin olive oil—I'm using approx. 2tbspns here for a smaller pan

• A generous clutch of fresh parsley; chopped (or chives)

• 1tspn freshly ground black pepper

• Salt, to taste

Cooking Method

the Provençal lamb with orange and fennel

1. Add half of the olive oil to a large frying pan with a lid and heat on a medium heat. Add the onions and leek and sauté until they turn "glassy". Add the bell pepper, sweet pepper and celery and stir in. Cover, reducing the heat a little, and stirring occasionally. After about 3mins, add the garlic and stir in

2. When the onions and leek are full softened, transfer to an ovenproof casserole dish/Dutch oven. Add the remaining olive oil to the same (unwashed) frying pan and brown the pieces of lamb on all sides, seasoning with salt and pepper. Once browned, place in the casserole dish/Dutch oven

3. Add the pieces of raw fennel to the dish and fold in. Sprinkle the orange zest over the ingredients. Place the green beans on top of the ingredients finally adding the thyme and rosemary, bound with kitchen string

4. Pour in three quarters of the wine and stock respectively. Cover and cook in a pre-heated oven at 200°C without disturbing for 30mins

5. Uncover and stir thoroughly. Reduce the heat to 160 to 180°C—to some extent, it depends on the thickness of your casserole dish—and cook for a further 2 hours, reducing the heat if it is cooking too quickly. Stir approx. every 20mins, and add the remaining wine and stock after about an hour

6. Add the chopped parsley once the dish has been cooking for approx. 1.5 hours and stir in. Re-cover and return to the oven

7. Allow the sauce to reduce naturally. If, after 2 hours, it still appears too liquid (you want a reasonably thick sauce), add 1tbspn of brown sugar and 1tbspn balsamic vinegar. Stir in and cook, uncovered, until the sauce reduces. Stir approx. every 10mins so that the exposed ingredients do not dry out. Add any additional salt if needed

8. Once optimally cooked, rest for at least 15mins in the turned-off oven. Remove the rosemary and thyme before plating or taking to table for diners to help themselves

the sautéd potatoes

1. Scrub the potatoes and cut into uniform slices, skin still on—I do this with a Japanese mandolin for uniformity of slices. Parboil for 4 to 5mins i.e. you want them verging on being cooked. You can do this some time before and store in the fridge

2. In a frying pan that allows space for your quantity of potatoes to not be too tightly packed, heat the olive oil on a medium-high heat. Add the potatoes while the oil is still heating. NB if you add the potatoes when the oil is already hot, the outer surfaces will crisp too quickly and you won't get a nice "fluffy" texture to the body of the potatoes

3. Sauté, turning and moving the potatoes almost constantly, being careful not to break them up. After cooking for a minute or so, add the black pepper and season with salt. If they absorb all the oil and the pan dries, simply add a few more dashes of oil

4. At least half of the potatoes should be golden brown and rather crispy, but it is a matter of personal taste. About 1min before ready, add the chopped parsley and stir in.

5. Take to the table piping hot or keep warm in an oven/warming drawer on a low heat until serving

Alternatives

This is one of those dishes with no obvious pescatarian or vegan options. That said, necessity can be the mother of invention. I have created a delicious vegan version on a number of occasions, but it definitely requires a different cooking order and timing. Essentially, you follow all of the steps above until step 4—omitting the lamb and using vegetable stock, and using slightly less wine and stock. But, instead of cooking it undisturbed for 30mins, cook it for 1 hour, stirring at roughly the 30min mark. Then add large—and I mean large—whole mushrooms, such as Portobello mushrooms, and cook for another hour-and-a-bit (versus the 2.5 hours of the lamb version). Furthermore, in order to help the sauce thicken, I cook it uncovered for the last 30mins of cooking, stirring approx. every 10mins to ensure none of the exposed ingredients dry out.

I have never tried a pescatarian version of this dish since I think I would be more likely to use another recipe. However, if I were to do so, I would opt for thick salmon steaks (salmon and orange is an underrated combination) but only add these in the last 20 to 30 mins of the cooking and not mix them into the sauce too emphatically.

Pairings

It's lamb. It's French. So no one is going to be shocked that I often look for a suitable regional red with this one. I do distinctly remember how much I loved a Château Pradeaux

Bandol 2005 with this lamb and on another occasion, the Château d'Estoublon Les Baux-de-Provence Rouge 2021 that had the chattering classes aflutter on the back of pandemic discombobulation.

That said, I'm oenologist-adjacent, lucky enough to have wine expertise close by in the family rather than having to put in the proper learning to actually have mastery. The upside of this is that I am happy to experiment. One of the happiest results of this experimentation with this dish was Quinta do Vallado Touriga Nacional 2022. Word obviously got out because it certainly jumped in price after I got my hands on it. However, I was pleasantly surprised when chasing the same grape at a more affordable price point by a Swerwer Touriga Nacional 2018, a South African red really working a Portuguese varietal.

That said, this is a Provençal dish and it would be remiss of me to ignore rosés. Bernat insisted on paring it with one when he cooked this dish for me. Rosé would certainly be my direction if dishing up on a clement evening. Following his informed opinion, I later found Château Simone Palette Rose 2017 a sublime match. Or, at great value-for-money Kanonkop Kadette Pinotage Rosé, tried over various vintages, is a reliable option.

For those who don't drink alcohol, I strongly recommend something I concocted for a friend joining us for this dish during her pregnancy. It's an iced tisane made with green and oolong teas then served on ice once the tisane has cooled with added crushed mint and orange pulp. It's utterly delicious.