Arab Lamb Ossobuco

When Lawrence of Arabia was living with an Arab tribe in the desert during the 1920s, every night one family would organize a feast in his honor. As Lawrence explains in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, guests would invariably be served freshly-slaughtered roasted lamb over a mountain of rice with rivers of melted butter. A delicious dish, but eating it every night rendered Lawrence incapable of moving for the entire day as he had to eat again and again not offend his host. Declining was not an option.

The recipe I propose today will not be an ordeal on the guests but you'll be exhausted by the time you finish it. But the result is so original and intriguing that I recommend you try it once. It comes from The Arab Table, a lovely cookbook by an American-Palestinian woman whose mother served this Fatet Lamice as her star dish for serious entertainment.

Arab Lamb Ossobucco
Fatet Lamice from 'The Arab Table'
7 pounds lamb shanks or leg of lamb
Cinnamon
Peppercorns
Cardamom
Allspice
Cumin
Nutmeg
Bay leaves
Salt
2 onions
2 cups
Yogurt
Juice of 3 lemons
10 garlic cloves
French baguette bread
Pine nuts
Whole blanched almonds
Basmati rice
Olive oil

Cut the onions in four and fry them in 4 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven. Add the lamb cut in 1-inch pieces (photo) or whole shanks if using and fry over high heat until colored on every side. Add the spices - cinnamon, cumin, allspice, pepper - and cover with water. Reduce heat to a low boil and skim the surface (photo) to remove any foam. Simmer for 1 hour or until lamb is soft.

Fry separately pine nuts and almonds (photo) until pale brown on all sides. An Arab mama would certainly use lots of oil but I think a more modern way is to roast them in the oven so as not to add the disastrous calorie imbalance.

In the same pan, fry the ground beef (photo) over low heat for about 20 minutes. Add the ground cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, cumin, allspice and pepper after about 5 minutes. The book says the meat should become almost black at the end - we need to support oncologists after all.

Cut the bread into thin slices and rub olive oil on both sides. Put in a toaster or oven until nicely colored. Traditionally such croûtons are fried in a sea of oil but I could not resolve myself to add yet more fat.

Cook the basmati rice separately, using the lamb stock remaining in the pot after you have strained the lamb. You can definitely used regular water or stock since the dish doesn't lack flavor and only the most discerning gourmets will detect the absence of lamb stock.

The plating is the fun part awarded to those cook who did not collapse before this stage. This is, after all, a seven-pot dish.

Start by laying the croûtons on a plate or serving dish. Sprinkle them with the lemon juice and crushed garlic sauce.

Put a generous layer of rice over the croûtons.

Cover the rice with a ladleful of garlic yogurt sauce.

Carefully place the lamb cubes or shanks on top and cover with a generous quantity of ground beef.

Sprinkle the roasted almonds and pine nuts on top and serve. If you have help in the kitchen, ask a fresh and rested cook to do the plating to achieve a beautiful result.

The dish is spectacular when you dip in it, with its intense flavors combining differently at every forkful. If I do this dish again, I would replace the boiled lamb with braisé lamb shanks - Italian technique with the Arab spices.

I warmly recommend the book The Arab Table, which you can buy on Amazon.com.