Lamb and Olive Casserole with Gremolata
Slow-cooked lamb, dark olives, and a sharp hit of gremolata to cut the richness. A proper cold-weather one-pot where the olives do real work.
Lamb and olives are an old Mediterranean marriage — the salty, winey olive answers the rich, fatty meat. This is forgiving, slow, and even better reheated.
What you need (serves 4–6)
1 kg diced lamb shoulder; 2 onions; 3 cloves garlic; 1 tbsp flour; 400 g tin tomatoes; 250 ml stock or red wine; a bay leaf and thyme; a generous handful of Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives; olive oil. For the gremolata: chopped parsley, garlic, and the zest of a lemon.
Method
Brown the lamb in olive oil, set aside; soften onions and garlic; return the meat, dust with flour, add tomatoes, wine/stock and herbs. Cover and cook low — oven at 150 °C or a gentle hob — for about 2 hours until the lamb is falling apart. Stir in the olives for the last 20 minutes. Scatter the raw gremolata over each bowl at the table.
Two hours of stewing would leach the olives grey and muddy the sauce. Adding them near the end keeps them plump and distinct. The gremolata is non-negotiable — that raw lemon-and-parsley hit is what lifts the whole dish out of heaviness.