Daube Provençal of Lamb with Creamy Polenta and Winter Vegetables

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Daube is a traditional dish of southern France, most commonly associated with Provençe.  The name daube is derived from daubière, the earthenware vessel in which this slow-cooked meat preparation traditionally is cooked.  As shown in the photo below, a true daubière is tall and pear-shaped.  The wide bottom of the daubière accommodates the meat and other ingredients  The purpose of its tall, narrow neck is to cool and condense the aromatic steam rising from the simmering meat and cause the resulting moisture to drip back down onto the meat, retaining its lush mouthfeel and enhancing its flavor.  While few of us have an authentic daubière, instead we can use a heavy, tight-lidded casserole such as the enameled cast-iron Le Creuset cocotte, or casserole, also shown below. https://amzn.to/4fSfwYD

The most common type of meat used in a Provençal daube is beef and, indeed, you can substitute a tough cut of beef like chuck (shoulder) for the lamb in our recipe to good result.  However, this requires longer cooking time for tenderness.  In the hill country of Provence lamb is much more widely raised than beef and, so, daube of lamb is a specialty of Avignon and its surrounds.  Fabrication also varies.  Some daube recipes specify braising a whole, large, pot-roast cut of meat whereas others use smaller stew cubes.  Recipes for beef daube often begin with marination in red wine for tenderization; lamb shoulder is tender enough to cook without marination. 

Orange is a favored ingredient in Provençal cuisine, not only in desserts and drinks, but also in savory preparations.  This recipe uses orange zest as an aromatic flavoring in the manner of a bay leaf: strips of zest simmer in the sauce, releasing their distinctive flavor, and then are discarded before serving.  Plates are garnished with orange segments just before serving.  These photos illustrate how to zest and segment the orange; use this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeZ-4ZraF4A to view a video demonstration.

The best cut of lamb for stewing and braising is shoulder.  If you can source part of a whole boneless shoulder, you’ll be able to fabricate it into large stew cubes.  However, most supermarkets offer only bone-in lamb shoulder chops which typically are only about ¾-inch thick.  These make a fine daube, but you must remove the meat from the bones, trim away fat and connective tissue, and cut thumb-size strips.  Here’s how to do it:

Making the daube follows the time-honored process for preparing stews.  You’ll sauté the meat in oil, which leaves some browned protein bits, called fond, on the surface of the pan.  (It’s important not to allow any scorching, or your sauce will taste bitter.)   For a restaurant-quality sear, I recommend a well-seasoned carbon steel sauté pan https://amzn.to/4hdr75T. To learn how to season a new carbon steel pan, view this tutorial video: https://prepholdcook.com/tutorials/sample-delete-video/.

After removing the meat to its casserole, you’ll lightly brown some aromatic vegetables in butter, releasing the fond and building flavor.  You’ll make a brown roux by stirring flour into the buttery aromatics and stirring until russet brown.  Slowly stir in the stock to prevent lumping, and then in goes the reduced wine, tomato, herbs, and a little salt.  As the sauce simmers, the brown roux will lightly thicken it.  Then the sauce goes over the meat, the casserole goes in the oven, and the daube slowly simmers in the oven until the meat is tender. 

When the dish is done cooking, the lamb should be knife-tender and the sauce a medium-nappé consistency.  Getting the sauce consistency right requires some attention.  If, when the meat is done, the sauce is too thick, simply thin it with some water.  If too thin, pour it off into a sauté pan and reduce it. 

While the lamb is simmering, fabricate the add-in vegetables.  Leeks are members of the onion family appreciated for their subtle flavor and succulent mouthfeel when cooked.  Only the white and pale green parts of the stalk are used; the green stalk ends may be used to flavor stocks.  Leeks must be opened up and carefully washed to remove gritty soil often found between their layers.

Gather all of the other recipe ingredients, and your prep is done.  Here’s your mise tray:

It’s dinnertime—now you’re ready to COOK!

Half an hour before dinnertime, you’ll reheat the daube in its casserole.  While it bakes, braise the carrots and leeks: gently sauté them in butter to bring out their sweetness, then add water and pan-steam just tender.

Polenta is a porridge-like dish made from ground dried yellow corn, a food that arrived in Europe in the 1500s after the Spanish discovery of the Americas.  Most closely associated with northern Italian and Balkan cuisines, polenta has become a favored starch side in the south of France, as well. Traditional polenta is milled from dry corn kernels, has a somewhat coarse texture, and requires long cooking with lots of liquid.  To make instant polenta, processors par-cook the corn kernels, dry them, and then mill them very fine.  Instant polenta cooks very quickly in a small amount of water.  https://amzn.to/3C5er1M However, various brands of instant polenta cook differently.  If your polenta is still rather grainy when cooked to spoonable consistency, just add more water and continue cooking until smoother.  Some cream added at the end of cooking adds richness and flavor.  Cooked polenta is notoriously sticky— be sure to soak the pan immediately after plating! 

When the daube has reheated steaming hot, fold in the carrots, leeks, and olives.  Simmer just a minute so that the vegetables heat.

Now you’re ready to plate!

The soft polenta will spread flat on warmed pasta plates or wide bowls.  When you ladle the daube on top, it will sink into the center of the polenta and push up the edges of the polenta to make an attractive rim.  Be sure to portion the meat and vegetables evenly among the plates.  Finally, make little bouquets of your salad greens by bunching them by the stems, and then plant the stems in the polenta at the back of the plate.  Arrange the orange segments in front of the greens and your presentation is complete!