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Autumn is here. Slow roasted shoulder of lamb with mint sauce

Its getting cold enough to wear a coat, and maybe even a hat, particularly if you are folically challenged like me.
Its bad news for heads but good news if you yearn for the return of cosy rooms and slow roasts.
We made this the other day .... pretty good I'd say.


ingredients



for the lamb

a large bunch of fresh rosemary
1 x 2kg shoulder of lamb
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bulb of garlic, unpeeled, broken into cloves

for the sauce

1 tablespoon flour
500ml good-quality hot chicken or vegetable stock
2 heaped tablespoons capers, soaked, drained and chopped
large bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked
2 tbs red wine vinegar

Method

Preheat your oven to full whack. Slash the fat side of the lamb all over with a sharp knife. Lay half the sprigs of rosemary and half the garlic cloves on the bottom of a high-sided roasting tray, rub the lamb all over with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place it in the tray on top of the rosemary and garlic, and put the rest of the rosemary and garlic on top of the lamb. Tightly cover the tray with tinfoil and place in the oven. Turn the oven down immediately to 170°C/325°F/gas 3 and cook for 4 hours – it’s done if you can pull the meat apart easily with two forks.


Remove the lamb from the oven and place it on a chopping board. Cover it with tinfoil, then a tea towel, and leave it to rest. Pour away most of the fat from the roasting tray, discarding any bits of rosemary stalk. Put the tray on the hob and mix in the flour. Add the stock, stirring and scraping all the sticky goodness off the bottom of the tray. You won’t need gallons of gravy, just a couple of flavoursome spoonfuls each. Add the capers, turn the heat down and simmer for a few minutes.



Finely chop the mint and add it to the sauce with the red wine vinegar at the last minute then pour into a jug. Place it in the middle of the table, and shred the lamb in front of your guests. 

 Serve with your favourite greens and style of potato
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Comments

Elizabeth said…
Barry
I cooked this for Sunday lunch today for three girlfriends. It was absolutely delicious!The lamb fell off the bone and the mint flavoured gravy fabulous! A definite to cook again....
October 21, 2012 at 8:55 PM
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