Description

Prepare Croatia’s most prized dish, peka, over an open fire, in an oven, or with a charcoal grill — all in one pot.

Directions

To prepare this recipe using your oven

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on bottom of 12-inch 8-quart Dutch oven. Top potatoes with onions, garlic, and carrots. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Remove rosemary leaves from sprigs and scatter over vegetables. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil.
2. Season lamb with remaining 2 teaspoons salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Place lamb chops on vegetables, and drizzle with remaining 3 tablespoons oil. Cover and bake in preheated oven until starting to brown, about 1 hour.
3. Remove lid, and carefully flip lamb and vegetables to prevent burning. Add wine, replace lid, and return to oven. Continue cooking until vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork and lamb is tender enough to just pull away from bone, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove lid, and cook until lamb is browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve directly from pot, drizzled with additional olive oil and flaky sea salt.

To prepare this recipe using a charcoal grill

1. Light 2 charcoal chimney starters filled halfway with briquettes. When briquettes are covered with gray ash, pour 1 chimney starter’s briquettes onto the bottom of a charcoal grill. Place bottom grate on top of charcoal.
2. Meanwhile, while charcoal is heating, arrange potatoes in a single layer on bottom of a 12-inch, 8-quart cast-iron Dutch oven with a flanged lid. Top potatoes with onions, garlic, and carrots. Sprinkle vegetables with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Remove rosemary leaves from sprigs, and scatter over vegetables. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Season lamb with remaining 2 teaspoons salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
3. Arrange lamb on vegetables, and drizzle with remaining 3 tablespoons oil. Cover and place Dutch oven on top of bottom grill grate. Carefully spread a thin layer of remaining charcoal over lid of Dutch oven. Cook until lamb is starting to brown, about 1 hour. Light 1 additional charcoal chimney starter filled halfway with briquettes for later use.
4. Carefully scrape off charcoal from lid. Remove lid, and flip lamb and vegetables to prevent burning. Add wine, replace lid, and spread another thin layer of charcoal over lid. Continue cooking until vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork and lamb is tender enough to just pull away from bone, 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from grill and serve directly from pot, drizzled with additional olive oil and flaky sea salt.

To prepare this recipe over an open fire

1. About 1 hour before cooking, build a hardwood campfire in a fire pit and let it burn down to red-hot coals, which then turn into smaller, ash-covered glowing embers. At this point you are ready for cooking.
2. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on bottom of a 12-inch, 8-quart cast-iron Dutch oven with a flanged lid. Top potatoes with onions, garlic, and carrots. Sprinkle vegetables with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Remove rosemary leaves from sprigs, and scatter over vegetables. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Season lamb with remaining 2 teaspoons salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
3. Arrange lamb on vegetables, and drizzle with remaining 3 tablespoons oil. Cover pot. When the embers are ready, push some of them to the side of the fire pit leaving a thin, even layer. Place the pot on the thin layer. Shovel some of the remaining embers onto the lid in a sparse layer, creating an oven-like environment inside the Dutch oven. Cook 1 hour. Meanwhile, pile the excess embers on the edge of the fire pit, and add a little more wood to get a small fire going in case additional embers are needed later.
4. After 1 hour, remove the embers from the lid, and carefully remove the lid. Flip the meat to brown on the other side, and add wine. Take note if it’s cooking evenly, and rotate the pot or add more embers as needed. Return the lid, and add embers to top. Cook until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork, 30 to 45 minutes.
5. Brush the embers from the lid, and remove the lid. Wearing heatproof grilling gloves or heavy-duty oven mitts, lift the pot from the fire pit. Serve directly from pot, drizzled with additional olive oil and flaky sea salt.