Sunday, January 15, 2012

Adobo-Braised Lamb

This lamb will make your apartment/house smell amazing. Definitely go through the effort to find the chiles. Toasting them gives them an amazing aroma and brings out all of the flavors. The adobo sauce has a  mix of ingredients that make a rich, beautiful red sauce. I loved the flavors of the peppers. When it has been in the oven a few hours, it falls off the bone incredibly easily and shreds into a beautiful taco or enchilada filler. We did tacos and had chopped white onion, cilantro, avocado, radish, jalapenos, and salsas so everyone could make his own. A very luxurious taco.

Ingredients:
1 guajillo chiles (4) wiped clean, stemmed, slit open, seeded, and deveined
4 dried arbol chiles
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, or more to taste
5 large garlic cloves, peeled
2 tsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp kosher salt
4 whole cloves
1 2 1/2 lb piece of boneless lamb leg or shoulder or a 3 lb piece with bone-in

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium low heat. Toast the guajillo and arbol chiles, turning them over and pressing down on them with tongs frequently, until the guajillos are fragrant and the insides have changed color slightly, about 1 minute, and the arbol chiles are browned all over with some blackened spots, 3 to 4 minutes.
Soak the chiles in enough cold water to cover until they're soft, about 30 minutes. Drain and discard the soaking water.
Put the chiles in the blender jar along with the 1/2 cup stock, vinegar, garlic, ginger, cumin, oregano, salt, and cloves and blend until smooth, about 3 minutes.
Put the lamb in a big pot and rob the adobo thickly on all sides, pouring any remaining adobo over the lamb.
Cover the pot and cook until the meat is fork tender, 2-3 hours. Check on it about an hour in and add a little water if it's too dry, and again after 2 hours. Let the lamb cool slightly and shred it with two forks. Discard the bone and toss the shredded meat with the sauce, adding a little water if need be to scrape up any brown bits. Season to taste with additional salt and vinegar.

If you're making tacos, be sure to warm up the tortillas sufficiently. The best way is two at a time, one on top of the other, flipping once together. About 1-2 minutes each side. Top with the lamb and any other little bits.

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