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Active Time
1 hr
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Total Time
3 1/2 hr
In Chalcatongo, Jiménez purchases pit-roasted lamb, then warms up the meat in a simple tomatillo sauce rich with the earthy zing ofcosteño rojochiles. On this side of the border, you'll have to cook your meat first, but our adaptation (we slow-roast it) couldn't be easier.
Ingredients
Makese 6 to 8 servings
Accompaniment:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 300°F with rack in middle.
Step 2
Put avocado leaves in bottom of a heavy medium pot with a tight-fitting lid. Sprinkle lamb shanks all over with 2 teaspoons salt and arrange in pot (they don't have to be in 1 layer). Roast, covered, until meat is very tender, about 3 hours.
Step 3
Meanwhile, slit chiles lengthwise, then stem, seed, and devein. Tear chiles into roughly 1-inch pieces (you should have about 1 1/2 cups). Heat a comal or large heavy skillet (not nonstick) over medium heat until hot, then toast chiles, stirring constantly, until more pliable and slightly changed in color, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. (Chiles will crisp as they cool.)
Step 4
Cover tomatillos with water in a medium saucepan and simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain well, then purée with chiles, garlic, cilantro, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in a blender (in batches if necessary) until chiles are ground to small flecks.
Step 5
Transfer shanks to a cutting board to cool. Strain lamb juices remaining in pot into a glass measuring cup. Let fat rise to top and skim off. Coarsely shred meat, discarding bones.
Step 6
在沉重的锅热油中at until it shimmers, then cook one fourth of tomatillo sauce (it will spatter), stirring, until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Add remaining sauce and lamb juices and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Add lamb. Thin sauce with water if necessary. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 4 minutes.
·Lamb can be roasted and shredded 3 days ahead and chilled. Chill juices separately; discard solidified fat.
·Lamb in sauce can be made 2 days ahead and chilled (covered once cool).
How would you rate Oaxacan Lamb in Spicy Tomatillo Sauce?
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Reviews (3)
Back to TopSurprisingly delicious - I followed previous reviewers substitutes (bay leaves & fennel seeds) since Mexican ingredients are hard to come by in my part of the world. I charred the tomatillos, and added extra garlic and carmelized onions for a little extra flavor. The shanks were a bit of work to shred due to all of the tendons etc. After tasting it, I had to add some salt (missing from the recipe). I also ended up adding a bit of hot sauce, like a previous reviewer, to give it extra kick. I'm not a big fan of lamb, but I found that the tomatillo sauce removes the 'gaminess' of the meat. I used most of the meat as a tamale filling.
lolapuff
9/18/2011
This was very good. I did not boil the tomatillos in water but just halved them and added them to a saucepan on low heat. They soon gave up their juices, this avoided later sauce reductions. I added caramelized onions (one onion) to the mix in the blender. This gave the sauce more depth of flavor. Substituted dried morita chiles and bay leaves (for the advocado leaves). Also scraped out the marrow from the bones and added to the sauce. Finally i adjusted the heat with some bottled habanero sauce. Think that the spicy heat needs to be tweaked so as to balance the unctuous and tart nature of the sauce.
SOTAY
washinton dc
3/13/2009
Easy and very good. I was not able to find avocado leaves in time, so I used bay leaves plus a tsp of crushed fennel seeds instead. It worked very well. I used ancho pepper instead of the costeno rojo chiles. Delicious! Next time, I'll try it with the avocado leaves.
Mimi1959
Brookshire, Texas
5/3/2008
