I get drooly just thinking about this meal we ate for a week.  Looking for something else, I stumbled upon this NYTimes Mark Bittman recipe. I’m so glad I did.

It’s so simple and easy. I made a some changes and I’m sharing them here, but you should really just check out his original recipe before making your own version. I served it with mashed potatoes and salad, but you could do it with couscous and green beans, or rice and broccoli, or bread and slaw, or anything that floats your boat.

Bittman used cubed lamb. I chose a big hunk of bone-in leg of lamb. Bone-in meat is always tastier and I knew I could cook it all day so it would fall off and shred easily. I did take the time to brown it on all sides with plenty of salt and pepper. In the future I might just remove the skin, skip the browning and use the slow cooker.

In addition to 1 onion, ~3 garlic cloves, ~2″ fresh ginger, 1/2t cinnamon, and 1c halved prunes I added 1c quartered dried mission figs. I love figs and they held up beautifully.

I added back the meat and poured over a bunch of my boxed Malbec I always have on hand. Bitman’s recipe calls for some stock or water, but I just went with as much wine as seemed right.

I put it in the oven on the very lowest setting I can possibly get it for hours and hours. I have no idea, I was working from home and mostly just forgot about it. Towards the end I added carrots and let it keep cooking while I made up the mashed potatoes and salad.

Bittman says to garnish with parsley, and I would have if I had remembered to buy parsley.  It was still amazing and I’ll be making it again.