Ahh the lamb shoulder – This is one of our favourite cuts and for good reason. Slow roasted to perfection and served with all the trimmings! Everyone has their favourite version of a lamb shoulder and here we have brought together some of the best tips and methods – including the famous dish served at Matt Moran’s Chiswick Restaurant – and combined them with our own twists to deliver what we think is the crème de la crème of Lamb Shoulder Roasts! Start this ahead of time – You need 3 hours brining time and 4 hours of cooking time. You can make this well ahead of time and keep it warm then crisp up the skin under a grill before you serve.
There’s quite a spread here so if you just want to make the lamb, slasa verde and gravy – You can jump over to our recipes here if you want to make the lot – Read on!
To make this dish start with brining the lamb, then make the salsa verde (the flavours and better when given a few ours to combine) and while the lamb is bringing or cooking, start the duck fat potatoes, cauliflower puree, honey thyme carrots and peas.
So start with brining the lamb
1.5 – 2kg Lamb Shoulder (this will easily feed 6)
For the brine
300 g salt
200 g sugar
1 tsp black pepper
8 juniper berries
6 cloves
4 L water
Crush the Juniper berries, cloves and black pepper in a mortar and pestle. Place all the brine ingredients in a heavy-based saucepan filled with 4L of water and bring to the boil over high heat. Remove from the heat, strain through a fine-meshed sieve and store in the fridge. Do not use until cooled completely.
Place the lamb in a container, skin side up and pour over enough brine to cover, (don’r worry of the brine doesn’t completely cover the lamb, leaving the skin exposed is fine). Then cover with plastic film and place in the fridge for 3 hours to lightly brine. Don’t leave it any longer than this you don’t want to overpower the lamb, this just adds a unique flavour its not to tenderise as other brines may do.
Now make the salsa verde
3 anchovy fillets
1 tablespoon drained capers
1 small garlic clove
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cups packed mint leaves
1 1/2 cups packed parsley leaves
Sea salt flakes to taste
Pepper tp taste
In a food processor, pulse the anchovies with the capers and garlic until a fine paste forms. Add the olive oil, vinegar and mustard and pulse to combine. Add the herbs and pulse until finely chopped. Check for seasoning – Add a little more salt, pepper or red wine vinegar as required and pulse to mix. Transfer to a jar, seal and set aside.
Note – This keeps well in the fridge – So don’t be afraid to make a double batch!
Now back to the lamb – After 3 hours of brining remove the lamb and pat dry with a paper towel, then rest covered for 30 – 40 minutes to come to room temp.
Preheat the oven (or hooded BBQ) to 140C.
For cooking the lamb
2 bulbs of garlic (1 left whole with the top sliced off)
2 litres of quality chicken stock
4 sprigs of rosemary
4 sprigs of Thyme
2 bay leaves
1 leek (sliced
1 brown onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 celery stalk copped
1 tin of anchovies in olive oil (45g)
Olive Oil
Sea Salt Flakes & Freshly Ground Pepper
Peel and slice some garlic cloves into slivers – You will need roughly 10 slivers. With a small sharp knife make short but deep incisions at 3 – 4cm intervals all over the lamb.
Stuff each incision with a slice of garlic, an anchovy fillet (or part thereof) and a small sprig of rosemary (use a large sprig and cut it off just above the skin).
Add the Lamb to a roasting dish and scatter 2 remaining sprigs of rosemary, the other herbs, whole garlic bulb and vegetables around the lamb. Then add the chicken stock.
Cover tightly with foil and cook for 3 1/2 – 4 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone.
Remove the lamb and cover with foil to rest.
Strain the braising liquid into a saucepan and set aside to reduce for the lamb gravy before serving
To make the potatoes
4 – 6 large brushed potatoes
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup duck fat
For the potatoes – While the lamb is cooking peel and cut the potatoes into chunks, you should get around 6 chunks per potato – Cut them in half lengthways then across – So that each chunk as a flat side. Rinse the potatoes twice and cover with water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and allow to cook until cooked through but not falling apart (around 10 minutes). Strain and allow to cool a little (until the steam stops) then transfer to a container and place the fridge. If you can, try to keep them on one layer (use 2 containers if you need to) so they don’t drain into each other.
When the lamb has been cooking for 2.5 hours place the duck fat in a roasting try and heat in the oven for 5 minutes. Then add the potatoes, toss to cover in the duck fat and return to the oven for an hour turning occasionally. Remove from the oven and drain off the duck fat (you can reuse this so don’t throw it away!)
At this stage check the lamb is ready to take out of the oven, if it needs longer set the potatoes aside uncovered until the lamb is ready. When the lamb is ready, remove from the oven and cover with foil. Turn the oven up to 200c. Mix the parmesan, salt and garlic powder together in a bowl. In a roasting pan place a piece of grease proof paper to cover the bottom of the pan, then scatter the parmesan mixture and shake the tray to cover evenly. Now place the potatoes flat side down on top of the parmesan and put them back in the oven for around 30 minutes or until the parmesan has crisped up – Don’t shake or move the potatoes while they are cooking – Remove from oven and allow the pan to cool then use the front edge of a spatula to break up the parmesan base (it will have melted together). Set aside somewhere warm but din’t cover as you don’t want them to sweat.
For the lamb gravy
Bring the braising liquid to the boil, then turn the heat down and allow to reduce slowly until the liquid is a thin gravy consistency. Keep tasting it, if it is a little salty add some thickened cream a table spoon at a time until you are happy with the flavour. Remove from the heat, cover and set aside
For the Cauliflower Puree
1 Cauliflower
1 litre chicken stock
White pepper
Sea salt flakes
While the lamb and potatoes are cooking, remove leaves and excess stalk from cauliflower and cut into small florets. Place in a saucepan with the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Cook until the cauliflower is al dente but not over cooked. Strain (reserve chicken stock – You can use this for the peas) and allow to cool a little. Place the cooked cauliflower in a blender a little a time and blend until smooth – You may need to shake the blender and pulse it to turn into into a puree – If needed add a little of the chicken stock a tablespoon at time to get the correct consistency. Taste and add a pinch of white pepper and salt if needed. Pour into a microwaveable plastic container or serving bowl and set aside.
For the carrots
1 bunch of dutch carrots trimmed (you want 2 – 3 carrots per person so check how many are in a bunch and buy more if needed)
2 tablespoons honey
4 sprigs of thyme
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
Salt & pepper to taste
Again while the lamb is cooking – Peel the carrots – Depending on their size this can be a bit fiddly but you’ll get there! Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil (large enough to fit all the carrots). Drop the carrots in the water and bring back to the boil or they are just cooked through, but not falling apart – Around 5 minutes at the most – Keep an eye on them closely. Strain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. When you are ready to serve the lamb grab a non stick fry pan and add the butter, honey and stripped thyme leaves from the sprigs and add those in as well. Over a medium heat wait until the butter has melted and drop in the carrots, toss to combine everything and season to taste – Allow to cook until the honey and butter mixture reduces a little, cover and keep warm.
For the peas
1kg frozen baby peas
2 sprigs of mint
1 lite chicken stock (use the reserved stock from the cauliflower)
I tablespoon of butter
As you are getting ready to serve, bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan with the mint sprigs. Once boiling add the peans and cook for a few minutes until the peas are just cooked through – They don’t take long. Test a cookie and as soon as they are warmed through strain, remove the mint sprigs and return to the saucepan, add the butter, cover and set aside to keep warm.
So to serve, everything should be ready to go when you are removing the potatoes from the oven. So take the potatoes out of the oven and set the oven to grill. turn up the grill as high as it goes. Remove the foil and place the lamb under the grill around 15cm from the element for 5 minutes at a time until the skin is slightly charred and crispy. Keep an eye on the lamb while you are doing this as it can burn so be ready to whip it out when you need to!
Place the lamb on a serving plate, board or platter and drizzle over some of the minted salsa verde. For dramatic effect we placed a knife in the lamb to serve – But up to you!
Reheat the gravy until warmed through _ if you need to add a little more cream.
Serve the potatoes, carrots cauliflower puree and peas in serving dishes and the gravy in a jug or bowl. Arrange everything on the table with the rest of the salsa verde in a jar – and let everyone tuck in!
This eats best with a few spoons of cauliflower puree on the plate then the peas potatoes, carrots then the lamb drizzled with gravy and topped with spoon or 2 of the minted salsa verde.
There are so many flavours going on here – It really is an amazing meal. The minted salsa verde cuts through the richness of the lamb with and gravy while the salty parmesan potatoes are matched perfectly with the sweet carrots and peas and the cauliflower puree holds hot all together.
While this may sound like a lot of cooking it is really, really simple, and if you want to get ahead of the game the lamb can be cooked well ahead of time and kept warm to place under the grill grill before serving. The cauliflower puree can be made a day or 2 before and reheated in the microwave before serving, as can the peas. Both the potatoes and carrots can also be par cooked (as per first part of their cooking) the day before and kept in the fridge and then finished as per the instructions above.
Give it a go and let us know how you get on!
