Winter warmer: slow cooked lamb shoulder

I’ve woken up this morning in sunny Brisbane after a warm winter’s night – I arrived yesterday afternoon in 24 degree perfection. Queensland you certainly do winter right! Unlike the Highlands that has been in a permanent state of below zero to tops of about 10-12 every day.

That said, I think that the bulbs this year have certainly started to spring much sooner than they normally would. Too little rain? Too much? I can never tell.

In any case, it’s jumpers and boots and scarves on day in, day out, that I am getting sick of. I have about 2-3 jumpers that I wear, mixing it up with different scarves…it’s always a long winter in terms of my wardrobe. Yawn…

On the weekend I whipped up a great slow cooked lamb that I had lots of questions about so I thought I better share the recipe on the blog (for myself too! I have NO idea how to make most of my recipes and usually find myself goggling “BabyMac x, y or z” in the supermarket for a list of ingredients!). I think the success of this roast was the beautiful piece of lamb that I had. This was from our local butcher who has a farm just over the hill from our village. The better the meat (organic if you can) the better this meat will taste.

Slow cooked lamb shoulder with Salsa Verde

1-2kg lamb shoulder (ours was just for 4 of us so I think it was on the smaller side)
3-5 cloves of garlic
8-10 stalks of rosemary
Rind of lemon
4-5 anchovy fillets
Sprinkle of cumin
Salt & Pepper
About a cup of olive oil (amount will depend on the size of the lamb)
White wine (I used about half a bottle over the course of the roast)

1. Into a food processor throw in all of the above (except for the oil) stripping the rosemary from the stalks up holding them up and using your two fingers to strip the leaves in a downward motion. You can do this my hand too in a mortar & pestle as well. Slowly add in the olive oil until the marinade is quite wet – the amount of oil you add will depend on how much marinade you need.

2. Place a cross of foil (large, long strips) and place it on the bench then do the same with pieces of baking paper and place the cross into your baking/roasting dish. Place the lamb shoulder in and pour the marinade over it giving it a good massage. Place in some extra sprigs of rosemary and lemon as well and a good splash of white wine and then bring up the pieces of foil/baking paper and close up. The foil should allow you to scrunch it to close. Make sure it’s closed up tight. You can read this post about the merits of lining your roasting pan.

3. Place into a 150 degree oven for 6-8 hours. You will need to add in extra liquid it can be with white wine or stock – whatever you have to make sure it doesn’t dry out. I use a fan forced oven. But you can set and forget and just enjoy the smell as it slowly roasts away.

I served this with a salsa verde as this is a gorgeous, punchy and flavoursome hit of flavour in comparison to the slow cooked deeper flavours of the lamb. I also do this in the food processor but you can just do by hand again chopping and slowly adding in the oil in a mortar and pestle.

Salsa Verde

2 cloves garlic
Bunch flat leaf parsley
Bunch mint
Bunch basil
Handful of capers
Handful gherkins (sweet vinegar – I added in a little of that too)
6-8 anchovy fillets (you can never taste these they just add in a salty taste I promise!)
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup of olive oil (again add it in until you have the consistency you would like)


1. Throw in all the ingredients above and blitz in the food processor then slowly add in the olive oil until you get the consistency you would like. This can be quite chunky (rather than wet) and spooned over the lamb

I served this lamb with roast potatoes and a simple salad. This salad was delicious but I forgot to take a picture of it! I took the baby salad leaves straight out of the container threw it into a bowl, cooked about half a pack of green peas, half a pack of persian fetta, some finely chopped red onion (half) and 2 cucumbers (I used a mandolin) and then dressed it with some olive oil, cumin, 1 garlic clove, salt & pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. It was AMAZING!

The crispy roast potatoes with the shredded slow cooked lamb, punchy salsa verde and then the delicious light salad all combined for a gorgeous meal. I don’t usually toot my own horn with my food but it was YUM. And our guests agreed!

[gmc_recipe 22490]

What’s your favourite winter warmer?
Sick of all your clothes too?
How am I meant to leave Brisbane and its sunshine?!

Comments

  1. Hi Beth – I am definitely making this on Sunday. Can you tell me your salad dressing ratios ?

  2. Looks terrific – great idea on the salsa verde
    Thanks

  3. Made this for a dinner we hosted this week and just had to say how good the salsa verde is!
    Loved it! Thanks Baby Mac.

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