Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder

A dish for a gathering big or small, slow cooked shoulder of lamb is comforting, tasty, no-fuss and can be adapted to favour preferences by the addition of different herbs and spices. Cooked on or off the bone the meat will be so soft you can tear it apart with a fork.

You will need;

Bunch of rosemary

Garlic bulb

Lamb, chicken or vegetable stock for gravy

Olive Oil

Method;

Pre-heat the oven hot (200°C).

Sprinkle a little olive oil on the base of the roasting dish and then scatter over rosemary and smashed garlic cloves.

Place the lamb (on the bone or boneless) on top of the herbs and scatter over more rosemary, salt and pepper and a little olive oil. Tightly cover the tray with tin foil and place it in the oven, immediately turning the temperature down to 160-170°C. Leave in the oven to bake for 2 hours per kg. The meat is done when it is so soft that you can pull it apart with two forks. If it isn’t soft, it needs to bake for a little longer, maybe another half an hour.

When the meat is cooked you can remove it from the pan and it keep warm while you make a gravy. To do this remove the rosemary stalks and rough garlic chunks form the pan, pour off some fat if you like then add a spoonful of flour or slaked cornflour – mix it all around over heat to cook out the flour and then add stock – keep mixing until the gravy begins to bubble and thickens.

Serve with mash, greens and gravy. Once you have the hang of slow roasting lamb you can change the flavours by using spices instead of rosemary & garlic. Dukkah works well or maybe some Middle Eastern flavours such as sumac, serving with cous cous or bulgar wheat instead of potato. Text