SLOW ROASTED LAMB SHOULDER (serves 6)

The inspiration for this dish came from Matt Moran. Matt’s family are sheep farmers, and the slow-cooked shoulder of the Moran Family is a permanent menu item at his restaurant, Chiswick. Matt brines his lamb for 12 hours, which does add succulence but means that the gravy becomes too salty to use. This is a simplified version, and the gravy is just divine!

Ingredients

1 bone-in lamb shoulder (neck bones removed)

1 head of garlic

2 brown onions

4 large carrots

1 ½ glasses white wine

750 ml good chicken stock

2 sprigs rosemary

Sprinkle of thyme

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp cornflour

Preheat oven to 130 C. Peel and quarter onions, peel (or wash) carrots and chop roughly, cut the garlic head in half widthways. Place onions, garlic and carrots in a roasting tray and gently place the lamb skin side up on top

Pour in the wine and stock until the lamb is just sitting in the liquid (not swimming in it!), season, add the rosemary and thyme.

Cover tightly with foil and roast for 3.5 hours (if a small leg), you may need up to 5hours for a large one, until the lamb easily falls off the bone (check halfway that the liquid hasn’t dried out).

Turn the oven up to 170C for 15 mins to brown off. Re-cover with foil and allow to rest for 30 mins.

Remove the lamb to a dish for serving (it won’t require carving), pour off the fat, remove the veg from the meat juices and bring to a boil in a saucepan. Mix the cornflour with a dash of cold water and stir to a slurry, then add this to the gravy to thicken, stirring as you do so.

Serve with hummus, tomato and red onion salad/salsa, and roast potatoes. Equally delicious the next day in wraps!

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Ottolenghi Inspired Variation

For a zooshed up Middle Eastern-style version of this recipe, make a marinade paste as follows and marinade the lamb overnight in the fridge. The flavour of the Sumac and Mint wonderfully complements the lamb and makes it a real feast.

Marinade Ingredients (leave out garlic, thyme and rosemary from above)

4 tsp Sumac

A decent glug of olive oil

6 cloves garlic

A handful of mint leaves

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp ground coriander seeds

½ tsp fenugreek seeds

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper

Place the ingredients in a blender and blend to a paste. Score the lamb top and bottom with a sharp knife and rub the marinade in. Cover with cling wrap and leave in the fridge overnight.

The rest of the recipe is the same as the one above.