Sacrificial Lamb

Today we tackled lamb, and while we didn't actually sacrifice it ourselves I feel like the least I can do is acknowledge that the lamb's life was sacrificed for the greater good (that is if you consider the greater good to be the knowledge of how to cook a lamb shoulder in a Staub by group B in culinary school at Ferrandi in Paris).  That still counts as a sacrifice, right?

I feel like the Staub is my best friend.  It never lets me down.  It always produces quality food.  As Chef says about almost everything within our reach in the kitchen, "Reespect.  You must reespect ze Staub."

Lamb shoulder.  Needs a wee bit of fat trimming.

Into the Staub the lamb goes with some olive oil.

After sauteeing the garnish, flour was sprinkled on top and the pot put in the oven for the flour to cook a bit.

This is what it looked like after a few minutes.  Already looking good in my opinion.

Covered the lamb with water, added a bouquet garni and some tomatoes and then back into the oven.

In the meantime, we turned some turnips.

And some carrots (and potatoes too).

Then pulled out the lamb, threw in the turned vegetables and some pearl onions.  I mean, how delicious does that look?

Final product.  Topped with some green veggies for color.  Chef said everything was cooked well except the green beans because apparently in France they like them mushy and not al dente - another fact that reminds me the French are, well, bizarre.  The only other thing that could have been better was the amount of sauce on the plate.  I was told it wasn't enough.  How terrible is that?  I mean, who doesn't want more yummy sauce in which to dip the insanely addictive baguettes you find here in France?  I should have known to pour all of it on the plate, but I tried to show some restraint and respect for the customer's waistline by not picking up the entire Staub and pouring every last drop on the plate.  My mistake.  Believe me, I won't make it again :)