French farmhouse cooking: lamb, beans, and nothing wasted
In the farmhouses of southern France, lamb and white beans have shared a pot for centuries, and the arrangement suits both parties. The forequarter chops give up their fat and gelatine to the braise; the cannellini beans drink every drop of it and turn creamy in a way plain beans never manage. There's wine and rosemary in there, a little tomato, and a finish of parsley and lemon zest to wake the whole thing up. It's a two-hour pot that asks for twenty minutes of actual work — the rest is the quiet confidence of a lid left alone.
Ingredients
- 4 Your Farmer grass-fed lamb forequarter chops
- Salt and pepper to season
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 brown onion, finely diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 125ml dry white wine
- 500ml chicken stock
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 x 400g tins cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- Chopped parsley and lemon zest, to finish
- Crusty bread, to serve
Instructions
Season the chops generously. Heat the oil in a heavy casserole over medium-high heat and brown them well, about 3 minutes each side; set aside.
4 forequarter chops2 tbsp olive oilLower the heat to medium and cook the onion and carrot for 6 minutes until softening, then add the garlic for 1 minute and the tomato paste for 1 minute more, stirring it into the vegetables.
1 onion2 carrots3 cloves garlic2 tbsp tomato pastePour in the wine and let it bubble while you scrape the browned bits off the bottom.
125ml white wineAdd the stock, rosemary and bay leaves, return the chops and their juices, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 1 hour 15 minutes.
500ml chicken stock2 sprigs rosemary2 bay leavesAdd the beans and simmer partly covered for 25 to 30 minutes more, until the meat is leaving the bone and the beans have gone creamy in the braising liquid.
2 tins cannellini beansFish out the rosemary stems and bay leaves, season well, and finish with parsley and lemon zest. Serve in shallow bowls with crusty bread.
chopped parsleylemon zestAppears in
In every lamb share — Forequarter Chops (4 pack)
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The Beans Are Doing More Than Making Up Numbers
This is French farmhouse logic at its cleanest: pair a cut that gives with an ingredient that takes. The forequarter chop, cut from the lamb's working shoulder, releases fat, gelatine and bone-deep flavour as it braises — and cannellini beans happen to be the world's best sponge for exactly those things. By the end of the pot the beans taste more of lamb than the lamb does, in the nicest possible way. A hard, honest sear at the start matters more here than in most braises, because those browned edges are half the flavour the beans will absorb. Your Farmer® forequarter chops are grass-fed, four to the pack in every lamb share, and there's a spare four-pack of chops for the weeks this pot gets requested twice.
Swaps and Variations
Dried beans make the deluxe version: soak 300g of cannellini overnight, add them with the stock increased to 750ml, and extend the covered simmer to 2 hours. Butter beans bring a plusher, creamier result from the same tins. Thyme swaps for rosemary; a full 400g tin of crushed tomatoes instead of the paste makes it redder and heartier. Chump chops braise nearly as well if that's the pack you're holding, and a handful of chopped silverbeet in the last 10 minutes adds the green the French would insist on.
Storage and Leftovers
The beans keep drinking overnight, so leftovers come out of the fridge thick as cassoulet — loosen them with a splash of stock or water as they reheat gently. It keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge and freezes for up to 3 months. It's also a better dinner-party dish than it looks, because everything happens ahead of time and it only improves for the waiting. The leftover move: strip the meat from the bones, mash it roughly into the beans, and pile the lot onto grilled bread rubbed with garlic — a lunch worth planning for.
You'll find the forequarter pack in every one of our grass-fed beef and lamb boxes — braises like this are why it's the quiet favourite of the share.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use dried beans instead of tinned?
Why do the tinned beans go in so late?
Can I skip the wine?
Can I cook it in the oven?
Which beans work if I can't find cannellini?
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