When loved ones come to visit give them a reason to come back - Slow roast shoulder of lamb

When family come round you have to spoil them and in my house that means a good roast dinner and when it comes to a roast dinner there can only be one choice for meat, lamb. But not just any lamb, for me the most flavour can be found in the shoulder. A lot of people are a little intimidated by this cut of meat, but it really easy to cook and get it right and you are in for a real treat.

I used a 1.5kg shoulder for my family roast and had enough left for lunch the next day. To start work on the lamb take a small sharp knife, stab it into the flesh about 1 cm deep and give it a little twist, this will make a small hole in the meat just big enough to put a small slice of garlic and a small sprig of rosemary from the garden. Do this about 15 times over the lamb to make sure the whole shoulder is penetrated with flavour.

Then in the bottom of a roasting tin place a roughly chopped onion, carrot and a couple of celery stick, along with a couple of crushed cloves of garlic and a few more rosemary sticks. Place the lamb on top, drizzle with a little olive oil and a good pinch of rock salt and ground black pepper. Top off with more rosemary and garlic, cover the top of the roasting tin tightly with tin foil and place in a oven at 150c for 3.5 hours.

Once it is cooked, remove it from the oven and let it rest covered in the tin foil for a good 45 minuets (this will help the meat to tenderize and give you the time to cook your roast veg and potatoes). After this time the meat will fall of the bone. I can guarantee your family will love this melt in the mouth cut of meat for their Sunday lunch.

#lamb #roast #maincourse