Baked lamb with Winter vegetables and mild spices

Who said that lamb is only for Spring and Easter time? In Greek cuisine it is cooked all year round and the only difference is that during the Winter the various flavours embracing the meat are more rich. Today's dish is inspired by a traditional recipe from Chania region, in Crete. What makes this dish special is the local wine "Marouvas" they use and it really goes perfectly well with the lamb. This wine, with its special characteristics, has an intense oxidation. This element helps balancing nicely the greasy flavour of the lamb. Then, the herbs and the spices give an extra flavour and subtle aroma to the food and makes it sooo tasty and mellow thanks to the slow cooking in the oven

Recipe of Kostas Tsigas,
from "Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients (for 4 people):
1½Kg of lamb (from the front legs), cut in portions
3 carrots, cut in thin slices
1 small hot pepper, finely chopped (no seeds)
1 tea-cup of celery, finely chopped
2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
10 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 ripe tomatoes, grated (or 1 tin of tomatoes concassé)
1 tea-cup of white dry wine (or Marouvas if possible to find)
½ tea-cup of red wine vinegar
2 tea-cups of chicken stock, warm
3 bay leaves
2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
2 whole cloves
1/4 tea-cup of honey
4 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of butter
all-purpose flour for dusting + 2 tbsp for the sauce
salt
pepper

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Season the meat well with salt and pepper and lightly pass it through the flour.

In a large frying pan warm the oil on high heat and sauté the meat until browned on all sides. Transfer with a slotted spoon on a tray.

Add in the pan the carrots, the garlic, the hot pepper, the celery and the onions and sauté for about 8 minutes, frequently stirring with a spatula. Add the tomatoes, the wine, the vinegar, the stock, the cinnamon, the rosemary, the bay leaves, the cloves and the honey and stir very well to blend.

Transfer the ingredients from the pan and the meat with its juices into a spacious oven pan, cover well with aluminium foil and put in the oven.

Cook the meat for 1h 30 minutes-2 hours. Take out of the oven and transfer the meat on a platter keeping it warm.

Mix the butter with the extra flour and slowly incorporate into the food's juices, having the pan on the cooker on medium heat, stirring constantly with a spatula until the butter is melted and the sauce is thickened.

You can transfer the meat back into the sauce and stir or serve on the plates pouring the sauce over each portion.

Best company for this traditional recipe is the thick macaroni.