Our fondness
for slow cooked lamb shoulder on the bone is no secret. Put it on at lunch time
and forget about it until dinner time. It’s also perfect for cooking the day
before and reheating.
This recipe uses
a dry spice blend called chermoula (A North African spice blend) which is a mix
of cumin, paprika, onion, turmeric, cayenne, garlic, parsley, coriander, salt
& pepper.
We use
Herbie’s chermoula (see picture) as we sell it at Meat at Billy’s. I sprinkle this
stuff on almost everything – especially lamb, chicken or fish. It’s great mixed
through mince, butterflied chooks or legs of lamb, lamb cutlets and whole roast
chickens too.
I like to
marinate the shoulder the day before if I remember. It’s still good if you just
rub in right before cooking too though.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 x 2kg lamb
shoulder bone in, shank attached
1 x 50g
Herbie’s Chermoula Spice Mix
3 large
brown onions sliced thickly
6 garlic
cloves skin on
2 cups water
Salt &
pepper
Method
24 hours
before cooking - rub half a packet of the chermoula spice all over the lamb,
top & bottom. Cover and place back in fridge until ready to cook.
Preheat oven
to 150°C.
Place onions
and garlic on the bottom of a heavy, deep roasting tin that’s big enough to
easily fit the lamb shoulder. Pour in 2 cups of water & sprinkle with salt
& pepper.
Place lamb
on top of the onions & cover the tin tightly with foil. Place in the oven
and roast for 2 hours. Turn the oven temperature down to 110°C and cook for a
further 6 hours. Check it every so often and if the water has evaporated, add a
little more water. Remove the foil for the last hour of roasting to crisp up
the skin.
By this
stage you’ll be left with a lovely oniony lamb jus. Pour the jus into a
container and skim off the most of the excess fat as there’s usually quite a lot.
The meat will
basically fall away from the bone. You should be able to serve with 2 spoons. Place
the lamb on a serving platter and pull the meat from the bone at the table and
serve with jus. Serve with a few lemon wedges and salt.
Serve with a mix of the following:
a)
couscous with roasted carrots & goat cheese
b)
a mix of roasted pumpkin, capsicum, zucchini
& mushrooms.
c)
natural yoghurt mixed with parsley & lime
zest.
d)
Chickpea, spinach & avocado salad