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Pull Apart Spring Shoulder of Lamb

May 21, 2011

There’s something about weekend cooking that normally means the pace is a lot slower and you may have a little bit more time to spare to cook a family meal or even a Sunday roast – though having more time doesn’t mean it needs to be hard. This week I came across a lovely shoulder of lamb at my local butcher, which is usually a bit cheaper than leg of lamb but tastes great slow roasted – the meat can literally be pulled off the shoulder with a spoon and fork.

Look out for rare breed, new season spring lamb for great flavour. Grass-fed will mean that the lamb will also be higher in omega-3. Also, keep an eye out at your local farmers’ market or ask your butcher whether he has any locally reared lamb, as you’ll also be helping local farming and agriculture whilst at the same time capturing that really good British spring lamb flavour at its best.  
For a really seasonal Sunday lunch try slow roasting your lamb with garlic, herbs and wine(see below) and serving it with Jersey Royal new potatoes and British asparagus, both of which can be par-boiled and then just roasted in the lamb juices – almost a one-pot meal. I also used the stock cube trick Marco Pierre White recently showed us to season the meat – seemed to work a treat. You’ll see it in the method below.  

Don’t forget to keep sharing your seasonal recipes in my Simple and in Season linky-up, there are now quite a few great looking seasonal treats to try (not just from the UK!) I’ll be rounding-up in a separate post at the beginning of June and sending out a book to the winner. 

 

Slow Roasted New Season Shoulder of Lamb,
with Jersey Royals & British Asparagus

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

1 x 1.3kg shoulder of lamb or leg of lamb
2 white onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic
Olive oil
1 lamb stock cube
3 tablespoons fresh or dried rosemary
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
250 ml of white wine, water or stock
Jersey Royal New Potatoes (as many as you need to feed your crowd)
1-2 bunches fresh British asparagus 

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees celcius

2. Take a tin or casserole dish large enough to fit in your leg or shoulder of lamb, put your sliced onions and garlic in the bottom of the tin and lie your shoulder or leg of lamb on top

3. Crumble a lamb stock over the shoulder or leg or or put your stock cube in a small bowl and pour in a small amount of olive oil, mix this together with your finger to form a paste (a la Marco Pierre White). Spread this paste all over your leg or shoulder of lamb, season all over with salt and freshly milled pepper and scatter some rosemary all over the top
  
4. Pour over your white wine, water or stock and cover with a tightly fitting lid or with tin foil

5. Cook in the oven for 3 hours basting occasionally. If your liquid runs dry, add in some more wine, water or stock

6. Wash and boil your new potatoes for fifteen minutes and set aside. Blanch your asparagus for around three minutes and rinse under cold water

7. After three hours of cooking, take off the lid or foil and throw in your par-boiled new potatoes and asparagus. Coat everything in the liquid in the tin/dish and cook, uncovered for a further 45 minutes

8. After 45 minutes, take out your shoulder of lamb and place on a plate, covered to rest (for fifteen minutes.) Check your potatoes are soft, if not put them back in the oven for fifteen minutes. Pull the lamb apart (I usually throw it back on top of the veg) and serve.

Filed Under: Easter, Family Food, Main Meals, Meat/Poultry8 Comments

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About Ren

Ren Behan is a British-born food writer of Polish descent. She is a mum to three young children (13, 10 and 5) and spends lots of time with them in the kitchen. Ren writes about seasonal, family-friendly food on her blog www.renbehan.com. She also contributes recipes and articles to online and print food publications, such as Food52.com, GreatBritishChefs.com, Huff Post Food and JamieOliver.com. She holds a Diploma in Food Journalism with Distinction and has completed a Food Styling course at Leiths School of Food and Wine.

Ren’s cookbook, Wild Honey and Rye: Modern Polish Recipes, draws upon her Polish heritage and regular travels to Poland.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Chris Rankin says

    June 16, 2013 at 6:54 pm

    Tried this for dinner today (Fathers Day), and can confirm it was really easy and absolutely delicious. Locally sourced spring lamb made all the difference. Followed it up with fresh British strawberries and cream. Perfect!

    Reply
  2. Fabulicious Food says

    May 31, 2011 at 10:32 am

    >Wow, thanks Ian for trying it and for letting me know it worked! Glad it was yummy. x

    Reply
  3. Ian Duffy says

    May 31, 2011 at 6:01 am

    >This was awesome Ren. I cooked it for 6 people over the Bank Holiday weekend it literally tore apart as soon as it saw the fork!

    Reply
  4. mycustardpie.com says

    May 22, 2011 at 11:16 am

    >I made something similar for a crowd on the weekend recently. The slow, leisurely cooking sets the tone for the whole day I think. I envy you those Jersey Royals. Suddenly very hungry.

    Reply
  5. Fabulicious Food says

    May 22, 2011 at 8:25 am

    >Thank you – yes please do enter Simple and in Season and give this a go!

    Reply
  6. createwithmom says

    May 21, 2011 at 11:02 pm

    >flavourful combination looks wonderful

    Reply
  7. Working london mummy says

    May 21, 2011 at 7:13 pm

    >This looks delicious. I will haVe to give a go! Will try and make an entry as well for your linky.

    Reply

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