IN THE KITCHEN : Lamb, Turnips, Peas and Fate

Give 10 cooks the same set of ingredients and you’ll get 10 different dishes. It’s an old saw, but it’s truer than you might think.

This recipe is a perfect example. Lamb, turnips and peas is a simple combination as old as spring. Yet, even with those three ingredients, there is ample room for improvisation.

My version springs from a Sunday dinner a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to serve a leg of lamb and garnish it with sugar snap peas from the farmer’s market and the last of the turnips from my garden. As originally conceived, the peas would have been blanched and bathed in butter and the turnips caramelized with butter and sugar. Served with the lamb, each would have had its respective place on the plate, joined only by the coincidence that they are all at their best at this time of year.

Fate intervened, fortunately.

What I had bought as sugar snap peas turned out--despite the farmer’s assurances--to be English peas. I didn’t notice the difference until I got home and popped one in my mouth. Is there anything better than the sweet explosion of a sugar snap pea pod? Is there anything worse than a mouth full of the stringy, fibrous remains of an English pea husk?

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But I went ahead and shelled the peas, wondering what I was going to do with them. Normally, I cook fresh peas absolutely as simply as possible--braising them very quickly in a little butter and minced shallot. But for a long time I have been intrigued by old-style French recipes that call for cooking peas with a head of lettuce. What would that be like? Why lettuce? Why not?

While shelling the peas, I tasted a few. (Is anyone so virtuous that he can shell really fresh garden peas without snitching one here and there?) What occurred to me as I ate them was that raw green peas have a bit of the same edgy bitterness as turnips. So why not serve them together along with the lamb? Something like an old-fashioned gigot printaniere ?

I soaked the leg overnight in a red wine marinade and made a quick stock from the hip bone and scraps. (Removing the hip bone before roasting the lamb makes the leg much easier to carve afterward.) You can make this stock as simple or as involved as you like. I was satisfied with simply roasting the meat until everything was nicely browned and then simmering for an hour or so with some root vegetables. If you want, you could just cook the lamb scraps in some diluted canned chicken broth.

The next day, I started by turning and blanching the turnips. Turning--carving vegetables into uniform shapes and sizes--isn’t difficult to do, though it is a bit tedious. If you can find walnut-sized baby turnips, turning isn’t necessary, but I think it still makes a nice contrast of forms. Cut each large turnip into quarters, then turn each quarter into a shape roughly resembling a semi-deflated football--remove the hard lines, starting with the core and finishing with the two edges. The turnip scraps I set aside with the pea husks.

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While the lamb was cooking, I added a handful of each of the vegetable trimmings to the simmering lamb stock. This is an idea that comes from something Madeleine Kamman used to emphasize in her classes--the necessity of tying the various elements of a dish together with some kind of unifying flavor.

In this case, that string is almost subliminal. You certainly won’t taste peas and turnips in the lamb sauce, though there is a very slight vegetal sweetness. At the same time, some of the lamb stock goes into the peas and turnips. Again, you don’t taste lamb, but there is a little bit of a dark undertone to the vegetables’ bright flavors.

As for the lettuce in the peas, I don’t think I’ll ever again cook peas without it. I used a mature head from my garden that was on the verge of bolting, and the little bit of bitter herbal flavor really made the taste of the peas come alive.

We had this for Sunday dinner with some friends--starting with a mountain of fat asparagus cooked until it was nice and soft, then dressed with good olive oil and lemon juice, and ending with a strawberry shortcake. The main course? It was just what I wanted--rosy slices of medium-rare lamb served with a deeply flavored sauce. The turnips and peas were a perfect counterpoint, sweet and green as spring.

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It may be that this method of cooking these ingredients has been around for years. It may be that there are far better ways to combine them that I’ve yet to discover. All I know for sure is this is how I cooked them one Sunday and it sure was good.

ROAST LAMB WITH FRESH PEAS AND TURNIPS

1 (4- to 6-pound) leg of lamb, hip bone removed and reserved

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 sprigs fresh thyme, minced

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

3 cups red wine

6 large turnips, peeled, quartered and turned, or 24 small turnips, peeled

2 onions, quartered

4 carrots, cut into chunks

3 pounds fresh peas, shelled and pods reserved

Butter

1 shallot, minced

2 coarse outer leaves Romaine lettuce, cut in thin strips

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Carefully trim away tough outer layer of fat (fell) from lamb. Rub lamb with garlic, thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Place in large plastic food bag. Pour wine over and seal tightly. Marinate, refrigerated, overnight, turning occasionally to coat lamb evenly with wine.

Roast reserved hip bone and any lean trimmings in greased roasting pan at 450 degrees until well browned. Cook turnips in rapidly boiling water just until knife easily pierces center, about 5 minutes. Remove from water and refresh in ice water.

Place hip bone and trimmings, 1 quartered onion and 2 chopped carrots in medium saucepan. Cover with water and bring slowly to simmer. Cook, keeping at bare simmer, at least 1 hour. When done, strain and chill.

Next day, remove lamb from marinade, reserving marinade, and pat meat dry with paper towels. Place lamb on rack in greased roasting pan and scatter remaining onion and carrots around bottom of pan. Roast lamb at 325 degrees until internal temperature reaches 135 degrees. Allow 20 to 25 minutes per pound. When lamb is done, remove from roasting pan and place on serving platter or carving board loosely tented with foil to keep warm, at least 1/2 hour.

While lamb is roasting, remove stock from refrigerator, skim fat and return to simmer along with handful of reserved pea pods and any reserved turnip peels. Cook at least 1/2 hour.

In large saute pan, combine peas, cooked turnips, 1/4 cup butter, shallot, lettuce, thyme leaves and 1/4 cup lamb stock. Place over medium heat and cook just until peas are no longer starchy.

While peas are cooking, remove onions and carrots and skim fat from meat juices left in roasting pan. Place pan over high heat and add reserved red wine marinade. Cook, scraping bottom, until marinade reduces to several tablespoons, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add 1 cup lamb stock and cook until reduced to thin sauce. Keep warm.

When ready to serve, carve lamb (pouring juice into warm sauce) and place on platter. Bring sauce to boil and whisk in 2 tablespoons butter. Strain sauce into sauceboat and serve peas and turnips alongside lamb.

Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

747 calories; 308 mg sodium; 144 mg cholesterol; 39 grams fat; 39 grams carbohydrates; 42 grams protein; 4.92 grams fiber.