So recently I've been experimenting with lamb and I've had a lot of praise about a lamb dish I make so I thought it's time to share it, seeing as several people have asked for the recipe.
This is one that is going to tickle your taste buds to the highest extent, the depth of flavour and the soft silky texture of the meat is absolutely sublime. You can serve this with rice, couscous or just on its own with some roast potatoes and steamed veg. Trust me you won't need any other flavours on the plate!
So what you'll need is a roast pot with a lid, or anything that can go into an oven and can fit a large shoulder of lamb. What's more, you'll have plenty left over for the day after and for freezing.
Ingredients
- 1.5kg shoulder of lamb
- olive oil
- 1 bulb of garlic
- lots of rosemary to taste
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 3 large carrots
- 1 fennel
- 2 large onions
- 4 celery sticks
- 6 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 30ml light soy sauce
- 1 pint of homemade chicken stock
So let's get started.
Let's start by turning the oven on full to preheat it. We need to prep the lamb, so cut into the fat side with a sharp knife and make lots of cuts, then drizzle some olive oil over and rub in the sea salt and black pepper.
Fire up a pan to seal the joint. Stick the shoulder on the pan and seal all sides, keep any juices coming off the lamb in the pan.
Cut up all the veg into fairly large chunk sizes and put them all into the oven pot. Then put the bay leaves in and rosemary on top. Season the top of the veg with some salt and black pepper.
Plonk the lamb shoulder on top of the veg, pour in the wine, the soy and then the chicken stock, but only so far so that it doesn't cover the top quarter of the lamb.
Tip: use the best homemade chicken stock, shop bought stock just doesn't have the depth of flavour.
Turn the oven down to 160°C/320°F/Gas 2 and cook for 5 hours, or if you can spare it, for 6. The dish is ready when the meat just falls off and flakes.
Make sure from time to time to check in and make sure that it hasn't dried out, just make sure there's always about a cup of liquid in the bottom.
To serve, just flake off all the lamb and remove the bone. Mix into the veg mix at the bottom which should be nice and soft, and you are ready to serve, or you could flake it in front of your guests before serving.
Enjoy this dish, possibly one of my favourites.
