Readers of The Bitten Word cooked every recipe in the September 2013 Bon Appetit magazine. Here's their take on Lamb Shoulder with Polenta and Beans.
Scott M : The dish is actually quite tasty, and the various ingredients actually play well together. I was able to cut the lamb with a fork. I was pleasantly surprised, overall.
Teresa: I was really excited when I saw I got a lamb entree meant for a dinner party as my dish. I love lamb, and I love an excuse to host a party! Too bad this recipe was a bit ridiculous. My first problem was finding a 3 lb lamb shoulder roast. I had to call around to five butchers before I could find one that had it. Then I realized the recipe called for some odd instructions: Roast the lamb first and then rest it for 30 minutes. While it's resting, bake the polenta for 60 to 75 minutes. Ummm... that seems a little too long to be resting my meat. I ended up baking the polenta with the lamb for 30 minutes, taking it out to finish the lamb at 500 degrees for 10 minutes and then finishing the polenta in the oven as the lamb rested. Bit of a hassle. The final problem is that this just did not make enough food for the recommended serving of six people (and the number of adults at my dinner party). I had to pad the meal out with some last-minute fried chicken from the store. The good part is that everyone agreed the food tasted great. There just wasn't enough of it, and it was not what I would call an easy meal for a dinner party. I could see baking the polenta if your meat is cooked on the stove. Otherwise, just stick with cooking your polenta on the stove. And get a bigger cut of lamb!
James: This was an easy recipe to make, with simple, inexpensive ingredients that resulted in a very flavourful dish that I would definitely make again.
Meredith and Rick: After a couple of days debating what we were going to do with lamb and polenta, which honestly are two of my least favorite things, we ended up having a dinner party with the lamb as the feature of the evening. We started the day by reviewing the recipe. Right off the bat something struck me as being off. The recipe calls for the lamb to be roasted for 60 min/lb. calling for a 3 lb shoulder to be roasted at 325 for 3-3 ½ hours. This seemed a little long and thankfully we checked the temp at 2:40 and the roast was already well done. We also reduced the time on the sear at the end, as the recipe called for 500 for 10-15 mins to get the lamb golden brown. Here too we reduced the time to 8 mins. While the lamb was roasting the other components were put together, the polenta was prepared and ready to go once the lamb was done with the initial roast. Each plate received a generous scoop of the polenta, the lamb was cut thin and laid upon the bed of savory corn and then topped with the bean mixture and some of the juice from the roasting pan. The mix of fresh cilantro and parsley from our garden topped the lamb and completed cooking part of our cover to cover challenge. All our guest were amazed with the presentation and commented on the delicious aroma filling the room. Of the six people at the table three did not fancy the idea of eating lamb, including myself. I think we had the vision of the mint jelly lamb we were all served at grand mom’s house growing up. Not only did the lamb taste delicious, it converted the skeptics as every plate was completely cleaned by the end of dinner. As with any recipe, use your judgment, if we followed the cooking times in the recipe this dish could have been completely ruined. This lamb shoulder with polenta and beans is now our signature dish, it also has a reservation for our Christmas dinner.
Emma S: One of those recipes which looks a bit complicated at first glance, but is actually quite easy to follow in gentle stages. Bittens, you achieved your goal - this was definitely outside my comfort zone and I am sure I would've flicked through it in the magazine without another thought. But the outcome: fabulous! All the components really complemented each other (although, to me, the highlight was the beans/leeks/bacon! - utterly delicious!). Definitely a make-again!
Tiffany: In the introduction to Lamb Shoulder with Polenta and Beans, Bon Appetit mentions that this dish is a good choice for a dinner party. That’s true. It’s exactly what I look for in a dish to cook for guests – easy but luxurious. The preparation is simple and the cooking is largely hands off. You can cook the lamb early in the day, pop the polenta in the oven as guests arrive, and enjoy them while it cooks. The beans take less than 15 minutes total. The results are impressive. The lamb is rich and luscious. I wasn’t in love with flavor of the basil with the lamb, and next time, I might try mint. The polenta was creamy and the thyme and garlic gave it a nice, subtle depth of flavor. I would perhaps increase the garlic, but I’m an avowed garlic lover. Both the lamb and polenta were tasty, but the beans were the standout for me. I’ve cooked cannellini beans with bacon often. In fact, that combination with some diced carrots, onion, and celery was a go-to quick dinner for me for a time. The addition of the leeks cooked in the sugar-vinegar mixture took the whole dish to a new level. The pop of sweet and tangy set off the richness of the bacon and the earthiness of the beans and…WOW. I will make the lamb and polenta again but mostly for special occasions. The beans will turn up again and again in my weekly meals.
Sara: The biggest 2 changes I made were using boneless leg of lamb instead of shoulder which I could not find and I grilled instead of roasted. (OK fine my husband grilled it.) But everything else I did per the recipe. The beans seriously make this dish. I was whining about the slightly fussy steps but it is absolutely worth it. I loved the vinegar, bacon, chili combo with the nice earthy lamb and polenta. Another thing I really enjoyed was the method for cooking the polenta-no stirring for 30 freaking minutes! Put in the oven and forget about it, that's ideal if you ask me. Overall, a great way to serve lamb!
Tamara: All in all, this dish was a success. There were 4 of us dining and we could have used more polenta. The dish supposedly serves 6 but two of us were teen boys so maybe that skewed the results. If you’re going to try it, I’d definitely wait until you hit cool fall weather as the oven on for nearly 4 hours isn’t exactly my idea of summer fun. Me, I’m looking forward to taking the leftover beans, arugula, and lamb for lunch to work tomorrow.
Get the Lamb Shoulder with Polenta and Beans recipe at Bon Appétit
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