Marketman’s version of Meat & Bread’s lamb’s neck sandwich was good, but definitely fell short of the practiced sophistication of the original. I had no recipe, and winged it in the kitchen. One mistake I did was add too much braising liquid to the lamb’s neck, so it was a little too wet, but still scrumptuous!
Instead of grilled veggies and pea sprouts, I had some baby arugula and a crusty baguette…
The shredded lamb’s neck with a bit some of the braising liquid, heated up before placing it in the sandwich.
I suppose many of you are shaking your head, thinking, “what? lamb’s neck?!…yipes” but hang on for a moment. First I headed over to my suki butchers at S&L Fine Foods and they got me 2.5 kilos of lamb’s neck that they cut into two inch thick pieces…
The pieces look a bit similar to osso buco, but meatier and with more fat. Imagine your own neck and how supple it must be… that’s what a lamb’s neck is like.
Back at home, I dredged the defrosted pieces in a bit of flour with salt and pepper, then browned them well in a stainless steel pan. Moved the cooked pieces into a dutch oven or heavy enameled pan. Poured off most of the oil from the frying pan, added a touch of olive oil, and sauteed rough chopped onions, carrots and celery until softened. I deglazed the pan with 1/3 bottle of dry white wine and added a small can’s worth of chopped plum tomatoes. Next, I added a cup of pure tomato sauce or italian passata, then a can or two of chicken broth so that the lamb’s necks were just barely covered with liquid. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat this up on the stove top until simmering and place in a 300-320F oven for say 3 hours until soft and tender and the sauce has reduced into a flavorful “gravy” of sorts. Remove the meat carefully and throw out the bones. You can use the meat immediately served over say polenta or fettucine. Or you can put them in sandwiches. I used the meat for several sandwiches and the leftovers were mixed in with some penne pasta two days later… :)
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Craving for that sandwich! Sarap naman! :)
Dear MM
Been following you all this time but have had no time to comment having moved house in three countries at once. (Paris London and Quezon City – don’t ask!) but loved the piece by Tom P-B in Esquire, congrats for your kudos in Saveur. Now, lamb neck, don’t know why your readers would even flinch, we of (mostly) Pinoy origin eat extremities and other things no problems. It’s a cut that’s cheap and cheerful here in Paris and the locals stew it, make curry (even if not partucularly authentic) but right now it is at its seasonal best with autumn vegetables – tiny pumpkins, wild mushrooms, and my favourite: fresh white beans in the pod called cocos de paimpol – dried they go into things like cassoulet but in this season they are round fat and amazing. But 3 weeks out of Manila I am already missing my manggang hilaw and bagoong. Do you think adobong lamb’s neck wouls be worth a try? Ginataang adobo maybe?
now that summer is over, I have transformed all my vine ripened tomatoes (skinned and just squished with my clean hands) into my go-to-all purpose sauce …Ms. Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce. However, I make mine with large chunks of squished tomatoes…when it is nagmamantika and reduced to half, it is done, then freeze in small containers. Have you tried it , MM? I have used it practically in any stew…mechado, butter chicken, apritada, and even sinigang! Remember Mamou’s Kurobota sinigang? I added a few sandokful of the Mrs. Hazan’s tomato sauce (reduced with a touch of sugar till it is nagmamantika). It looks EXACTLY like your picture of the Sinigang. The boys requested it TWICE 3 weeks ago! Oh, btw…for those in my neck of the woods…I found a really good substitute for packaged sinigang mix. I use Tamarind Pulp in bottles found in Asian grocery stores. It tasted like maasim na sampaloc…the real stuff. Ingredients on the bottle: just tamarind and water.
Anyway, I thought maybe adding the reduced prepared tomato sauce to your braised lamb necks next time around will yield something close to what you had.
Hey, Gej….is tomato season over where you are? If it is, try that tomato sauce…the simplest ever yet it is really good! Add a a touch of sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. You have to use butter…no substitute!
bettyq, sounds wonderful, but the tomatoes here are pretty horrific for the most part… unless you get really lucky. It comes out cheaper to buy imported canned Italian tomatoes than to make your own sauce…
MM, have been in search of lamb neck…T has been in the mood for Lancashire Hot Pot….soul food from his youth. Will have t pick some up next in Manila! thanks for the tip. Can you just walk in or do you have to pre-order?
WE LOVE LAMB. IF IT WEREN’T SO EXPENSIVE, WE’D HAVE IT MORE OFTEN!
I didn’t realize the neck was meaty. I thought it was going to have more bones than muscles.
wow that sandwich looks sooooooo yummy! will show this to my sister and will ask her to make me one. :)
btw, since you might be interested in sooo pinoy’s contest now.. saw it on their facebook page. from what i understood, you blog about filipino food/restaurants and get a chance to win an all expense paid foodtrip to ten different domestic destinations.
https://www.facebook.com/SoooPinoy
bettyq, have made tomato sauce using Marcella Hazan’s recipe. Truly good but simple recipe. Also added a touch of sugar but I had to use canned tomatoes since tomatoes in the Philippines are so expensive especially with the long rainy season.
shout out to everyone… would you guys remember what post the hazan’s tomato sauce would be in? since i can have access to a lot of tomatoes. would like to make it. thanks in advance. would check to see if i can get lamb necks, we all love, love, love lamb in any way or form.
Hi MM. Like Joel, I didn’t realize lamb’s neck was meaty. I’m more familiar with chicken’s neck and figured that all other meats are similar. I was wrong! Hmm, my hubby would love this recipe, he a lover of all things lamb and bread….
“imagine your own neck and how supple it must be”…that had me shaking my….uhmmm….neck!
Lamb neck is a must as one of the meats in Josephine’s Barese ragu sauce. Watch out for the little bones that often disentegrate into the sauce…the other meats for the sauce are hot and sweet Italian sausages, meatballs (of course), etc. Good over pasta, but probably better in a hero.
oh think I have some lamb neck..
Hey Betty q! A friend gave me a lot of green tomatoes and isang maliit na timba na puro green olives. I don’t have a clue on what to do with them. Help!!
Wisdom tooth: you can pickle green tomatoes like dill pickles or sweet ones like bread and butter pickles or relish. Another one is green tomato chutney…add some sweet peppers to it, brown sugar, some ginger/garlic/onions, herbs like cilantro (if you like it…my boys do not …they say “lasang surot” not that they have tasted surot!) or bit of basil and mint, got to have serrano peppers for zip! I will make a new e-mail with the assistance of La Emperor hopefully to safeguard e-mail from getting hacked again. Pack them in small 125 ml. jars and after you process them, save it for Christmas gifts to add to your foodie Christmas basket. Make some Cheddar or Parmesan coins (savoury shortbread). Ok…I am getting carried away again!
Psychomom: just google it. But if you are using fresh ripe tomatoes like me, drop them for just a fEW seconds in hot boiling water and shock them in cold water and skin them. Then dump everything in a big pot, SQUISH them with your hands TO RELEASE THE JUICES making sure they are still in large chunks. Maybe for every 3 cups of squished tomatoes, add 1 really large onion, cut in half crosswise, 1/2 cup regular butter ….NO SUBSTITUTE!. Then bring them to a boil Season with salt and pepper and a touch of sugar. Taste it. Simmer on medium to low heat until reduced in half and nagmamantika and the onions are really soft. Then before storing, just cut the onions in fairly large chunks with your sandok!…ONION>>>EXCELLENT USED TOPPING FOR LAMB NECK SANDWICH!!!!!!!
I have used every imaginable type of tomatoes….red, yellow, orange, chocolate brown, lime green…finished product has that orangey-reddish-brownish hue. Freeze them in small containers.
EXCELLENT too when added to SINIGANG….add a bit of lime leaf or even Tom Yum paste.
bettyq, it’s so funny how you write… MAKES ME want to get back into a kitchen to COOK! Hahaha. Thanks…
oooooohhhhh, love all the fat and gelatinous mess!!
i feel so lucky. bought a copy of marcella hazan’s italian kitchen book at booksale for P90!:)
Maia, which booksale branch did you find marcella’s book????? lucky indeed! been looking for her book but the cookbooks here are mostly jamie’s (not really a big fan of JO) and arabic ones…amazon doesn’t deliver here so i may ask a friend to go to booksale..thank you…
bettyq, chocolate brown tomatoes? wow, i’ve never seen one…
You really lucked out, Maia! If I may ask, which establishment had the book sale and when was that? If it is fairly recent, I will tell my sister to just go buy it there! Many thanks as well.
thanks betty! will do that this week. have plenty of tomatoes to vent anger on (squish-squis-squish). funny story… my son and i were baking this past week and he was kneading the dough, and remarked how difficult it was. i told him to imagine he was beating someone he dislikes as he was kneading and he said that thought actually made it easier! hehehe. on a side note, found a place that had lamb necks. yehey!!!!
Hi Ms. BettyQ! Booksale is a local chain of 2nd hand books. For people with luck or patience, it usually yields great finds! I’ve even picked up a few MFK Fisher books.
PS If it’s not too much to ask, would you happen to have a recipe for a good, tart lemon bar? The ones i’ve tried end up really sweet. Also, do you reckon if they’d work well with calamansi?
Thank you! I’m a big fan of yours.
I just had a “vision” or my own juicy neck, as you described it, freakishly hilarious! Haha!
On a different note, I have tried betty q’s ensaymada and it is very, very good! Thanks, betty! Let’s have coffee soon.
bettyq, just like cwid, I too had the pleasure of tasting your ensaymada – – – absolutely divine!
BTW, thanks for the tip on the Tamarind pulp. Will look for it and use it instead for my sinigang. Am also bookmarking this for this versatile tomato sauce recipe. Thank you so much again!
hi MP and bettyq. nina is right. booksale is a local chain of 2nd hand books. i gathered though that most of the books are from outside the country. they receive shipments every week. i got mine from the booksale branch in SM Cebu (i live in cebu) which is replenished every wednesday. i guess, i really just lucked out that time i got hazan’s book. but then again, i found a lot of other “classics” and must-have books too — which i get just because i feel they should be in our library.:)
hello bettyq! made your tomato pesto and the tomato sauce this weekend. thanks once again for all the delicious recipes you have shared. also you can get marcella hazan’s books on ebay, albeit not as reasonably priced as the philippine prices.
Chapters also sells second hand books ….Mrs. Hazan’s book is currently out of stock (second hand) and priced really cheap!
If you are not in a hurry, I will try to get it for you as well!
This specific cut reminds me of the beef neck that my mom used to buy at rustan’s, she uses them mostly for karekare, so that it’s more meaty :)