Meat · Recipe · France · Reference page

Navarin d'agneau printanier

Name: Navarin d'agneau printanier
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 500 g lamb shoulder or neck, in large dice; 1 piece onion, halved: one half sliced, the other stuck with the cloves; 3 piece cloves; 2 clove garlic, crushed to a paste with a pinch of coarse salt; 100 g crushed tomatoes (concassée or pulp); 1 sprig rosemary; 1 sprig thyme; 1 pinch sugar; 10 piece black olives; 1 tbsp olive oil; coarse salt and peppercorns; 8 piece small carrots with a little of their tops; 1 sprig thyme; 1 clove garlic, crushed; 1 pinch sugar; 1 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper; 200 g garden peas; 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped; a drop of olive oil

navarin d'agneau printanier

Lamb shoulder seared and simmered with onion, garlic, tomato, rosemary and thyme, served with carrots glazed in thyme and crisp green peas. This spring version is by the Provençal chef Xavier Mathieu for GaultMillau; Escoffier's classic navarin of 1903 is given alongside.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 4
Preparation: 35 min
Cooking: 55 min
Total: 1 h 30
Difficulty: Moderate

Equipment

Cast-iron casserole (cocotte) with a lid
Frying pan for the carrots
Saucepan and a bowl of iced water for the peas

To drink & serve with

Rhône Valley
Editorial suggestion: a fresh, fruity southern Rhône red.

Substitutions

A Provençal spring navarin → Escoffier's navarin printanier: brown the meat with a little sugar, dust with flour, add water or stock, tomato, garlic and a bouquet garni, oven 1 hour; then add small onions, carrots, glazed new turnips, small potatoes, peas and green beans and finish at a very slow simmer.
Olives → Leave them out for a plainer, northern-style navarin.

Common mistakes

Crowding the pan when searing: the lamb stews grey.
Boiling the stew: the meat tightens; keep it at a gentle simmer.
Cooking the peas in the stew for long: they lose colour and bite.

Storage & reheating

Refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 2 days; keep the peas apart. Reheat once, until steaming hot.

Safety

None of the 14 declarable allergens in this recipe; check the olives and canned tomatoes for additives. Whole pieces of lamb are cooked far above safe temperatures in a braise.

Allergens

None

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

From mutton ragout to spring plate

A navarin is a French ragout of mutton or lamb. Escoffier's 1903 version is a large braise: 2.5 kg of breast, chuck, neck and shoulder of mutton browned in fat with 5 g of sugar, which "caramelises slowly at the bottom of the pan" and gives the sauce its colour; then flour, water or stock, tomato, garlic and a bouquet garni, an hour in the oven, and another hour with small onions and turned potatoes. His navarin printanier replaces the potatoes with the spring vegetables that define it today: small carrots, new turnips, small potatoes, peas and green beans, cooked in the sauce at a very gentle simmer.

Xavier Mathieu's version for GaultMillau, from his restaurant at Joucas in the Luberon, is a lighter and more Provençal plate. The lamb simmers with tomato, rosemary, thyme and black olives, and the spring vegetables are cooked apart, the carrots glazed with thyme and the peas only blanched, so that they keep their colour.

[1][2]