Ah, one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco is SPQR. I originally read about it in Food & Wine magazine, and took my little brother there for his birthday. We were fortunate enough to get seats at the “chef’s counter” - basically a bar setup over the kitchen, where you can watch the meals being prepared. The best part was hearing the lead chef talk to the line cooks. He would taste some of the dishes under way and tell the line cooks what was missing. My favorite overheard quote was “more salt, more salt! If it’s not over-salted it’s under-seasoned!” So I was justifiably excited - practically giddy - when I saw the September 2008 Bon Appetit, the “Restaurant Issue”: recipes from SPQR! I did not have this lamb cacciatore at the restaurant, but I will try it when I’m back in the bay area to see how it compared to my own version.
Grocery list: 3 pounds boneless leg of lamb, trimmed and cut into 1 inch chunks [note, ask your butcher, but I substituted shoulder and it was only $5 a pound - you have to trim it anyway, so it was perfect in my opinion]; 1/4 cup white wine, 2 garlic cloves, olive oil, 2T chopped fresh rosemary, 1 T chopped fresh oregano, 1 T chopped fresh mint, 4 anchovy fillets chopped (or 1-2 T anchovy paste), 1 bag fresh arugula, lemon wedges.
Drizzle wine over lamb pieces and season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, make the marinade by mashing garlic with 4T olive oil, then mixing in all the herbs and anchovies.
Stir into lamb, cover with saran wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours.
The recipe says you can cook the lamb either over a grill (using metal skewers to make kabobs), or by sauteing - I used the latter method.
Heat 1 T oil in large pan, then saute lamb in batches over high heat, about 5-6 minutes for medium-rare. Toss the arugula with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Serve the lamb over the arugula with lemon wedges on the side.
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July 26th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Sounds pretty awesome and very similar to a pasta sauce recipe I have.
You could probably add some onion, mushrooms and bell peppers when you saute the lamb and then some wine and/or beef stock and reduce/thicken it a bit and serve over pasta and I’m guessing it would rock.
Cheers.