Time: 6 1/4 hours. Spoon lamb gets its name from the texture of the meat when it's finished cooking: so tender, you can cut it with a spoon. This long, slow cooking technique benefits leg of lamb, typically a tough cut, and the acidity of the coffee offsets the richness of the meat. The sauce made from the drippings begs for polenta or potatoes.
How to Make It
Preheat oven to 400°. Mince 2 garlic cloves and rub onto lamb, spreading evenly. Generously sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper. Put lamb on a V-shaped rack in a large roasting pan. Surround rack with onion, carrots, shallots, tomato, and remaining 4 garlic cloves. Drizzle olive oil over vegetables and lamb.
Roast 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and cook another 30 minutes.
Reduce heat to 250°. Transfer lamb to a plate and lift rack from pan. Set the roasting pan on a burner over high heat, add wine, and boil, using a wide metal spatula to stir and scrape caramelized vegetables from bottom of pan, until wine has reduced by half. Stir in 2 cups coffee. Remove from heat. Set lamb back in pan (without rack); spoon juices over it. Cover tightly with foil.
Return to oven and cook until lamb is tender and pulling away from the bone, about 5 hours, turning lamb once halfway through cooking.
Transfer lamb to a platter and cover with foil. Reheat remaining 1 cup coffee and pour with liquid and vegetables from pan into a blender, working in batches if needed. Pulse until smooth. Pour sauce through a strainer set over a bowl, using the back of a spoon or ladle to push it through if needed. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Pour half of sauce over lamb and serve the rest in a bowl. Sprinkle lamb with parsley.
Note: Nutritional analysis is per serving.
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