Ingredients
brown onions (sliced into half moons)
2
shoulder of lamb
2kg
anchovies (including their oil)
1 x 50g tin
olive oil
50ml
garlic cloves, finely minced
4
For the salsa verde
coriander leaves
20g
parsley leaves
20g
anchovies (including their oil)
1 x 50g tin
capers
3tbsp
garlic cloves
3 For the salsa verde
banana shallot
1
olive oil
60ml
For the salad
red onion (thinly sliced into half moons)
1
radishes (very thinly sliced)
2
lemons
2
sumac
1tsp
flaky sea salt
a pinch
walnuts (roughly chopped)
a small handful
pita breads
2
olive oil
75ml
watercress (woody stems removed)
100g
coriander leaves
80g
parsley leaves
80g
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This is a real weekend showstopper, the sort of thing you’d put down at the centre of a crowded Sunday table when there’s something to celebrate – such as a big Easter lunch. The tender lamb we were raised on always stood up to strong, heady flavours – I still think first of anchovies whenever I’m planning to cook it.
After reading James Rebanks’s The Shepherd’s Life a few years ago, I started hunting out hogget and mutton as well as my childhood lamb. They’re a little trickier to get hold of – less reliably in supermarkets – but a butcher should be able to help you out. Whether you’re working with lamb, hogget or mutton, I don’t think you can do better than a shoulder cooked low and slow, a technique that will show the meat off at its best: so melting and tender you need only a fork to pull it from the bone.
The complex sweetness of the meat is longing for big, brash flavours to accompany it – the salt and umami of anchovies, and the heat of garlic. They’re both here twice; melting into the meat as it cooks, enhancing the flavour, and then afterwards in a salsa verde, which makes the whole meal sing.
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Serves
6
| Time360 mins
brown onions (sliced into half moons)
2
shoulder of lamb
2kg
anchovies (including their oil)
1 x 50g tin
olive oil
50ml
garlic cloves, finely minced
4
For the salsa verde
coriander leaves
20g
parsley leaves
20g
anchovies (including their oil)
1 x 50g tin
capers
3tbsp
garlic cloves
3 For the salsa verde
banana shallot
1
olive oil
60ml
For the salad
red onion (thinly sliced into half moons)
1
radishes (very thinly sliced)
2
lemons
2
sumac
1tsp
flaky sea salt
a pinch
walnuts (roughly chopped)
a small handful
pita breads
2
olive oil
75ml
watercress (woody stems removed)
100g
coriander leaves
80g
parsley leaves
80g
Serves
6
| Time360 mins
Method
Preheat the oven to 150C/gas mark 2, and find a roasting tray that will fit the shoulder comfortably. Place a layer of onions across the base of the tray, then lay the lamb on top, skin-side up. Mash the anchovies and their oil into the olive oil and stir the minced garlic through, then make deep cuts through the skin of the lamb, and rub the anchovy oil in. Pour 200ml of tap water into the base of the tray, then cover the whole thing loosely with foil.
Transfer to the oven and leave for 4-6 hours, until a fork can pull the meat off the bone easily. Remove the foil, increase the oven heat to 200C/gas mark 6, and give the lamb a final 30 minutes, until the fat is crisp and golden.
While the meat is roasting, you can make the salsa verde and the salad. It might be that you want to get things out of the way before people arrive, so that you need only pull the shoulder out at the last minute. Or it may be you want to put the lamb in the oven and get on with something else for a while, leaving everything until the last 30 minutes, when you turn the temperature up. It'll be fine either way, it's completely up to you.
For the salsa verde, roughly chop everything, then blitz to a smooth sauce with an immersion blender, small blender or food processor. You can finely chop it all by hand, if you like, which will be lovely, but the vibrant green is the product of an intense blending.
For the salad, put the red onions and radishes in a bowl, and mix through the lemon juice and sumac, along with the salt. Toast the walnuts in a dry pan for a couple of minutes until fragrant and golden on their cut edges.
Split open the pitas and slice thinly. Fry in a couple of tbsp of olive oil until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
Combine the watercress and herbs, onions and radishes, walnuts and pita strips in a serving bowl. Whisk the rest of the olive oil with the lemon juice that will now be pink from the red onion, and (at the last minute) toss everything together.
Serve the lamb hot from the oven alongside a bowl of the salsa verde and the salad.
Recipe from Dinner at Mine?: New Inspiration for Everyday Ingredients by Kate Young (Head of Zeus, £25)
Ingredients
brown onions (sliced into half moons)
2
shoulder of lamb
2kg
anchovies (including their oil)
1 x 50g tin
olive oil
50ml
garlic cloves, finely minced
4
For the salsa verde
coriander leaves
20g
parsley leaves
20g
anchovies (including their oil)
1 x 50g tin
capers
3tbsp
garlic cloves
3 For the salsa verde
banana shallot
1
olive oil
60ml
For the salad
red onion (thinly sliced into half moons)
1
radishes (very thinly sliced)
2
lemons
2
sumac
1tsp
flaky sea salt
a pinch
walnuts (roughly chopped)
a small handful
pita breads
2
olive oil
75ml
watercress (woody stems removed)
100g
coriander leaves
80g
parsley leaves
80g
Method
Preheat the oven to 150C/gas mark 2, and find a roasting tray that will fit the shoulder comfortably. Place a layer of onions across the base of the tray, then lay the lamb on top, skin-side up. Mash the anchovies and their oil into the olive oil and stir the minced garlic through, then make deep cuts through the skin of the lamb, and rub the anchovy oil in. Pour 200ml of tap water into the base of the tray, then cover the whole thing loosely with foil.
Transfer to the oven and leave for 4-6 hours, until a fork can pull the meat off the bone easily. Remove the foil, increase the oven heat to 200C/gas mark 6, and give the lamb a final 30 minutes, until the fat is crisp and golden.
While the meat is roasting, you can make the salsa verde and the salad. It might be that you want to get things out of the way before people arrive, so that you need only pull the shoulder out at the last minute. Or it may be you want to put the lamb in the oven and get on with something else for a while, leaving everything until the last 30 minutes, when you turn the temperature up. It'll be fine either way, it's completely up to you.
For the salsa verde, roughly chop everything, then blitz to a smooth sauce with an immersion blender, small blender or food processor. You can finely chop it all by hand, if you like, which will be lovely, but the vibrant green is the product of an intense blending.
For the salad, put the red onions and radishes in a bowl, and mix through the lemon juice and sumac, along with the salt. Toast the walnuts in a dry pan for a couple of minutes until fragrant and golden on their cut edges.
Split open the pitas and slice thinly. Fry in a couple of tbsp of olive oil until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
Combine the watercress and herbs, onions and radishes, walnuts and pita strips in a serving bowl. Whisk the rest of the olive oil with the lemon juice that will now be pink from the red onion, and (at the last minute) toss everything together.
Serve the lamb hot from the oven alongside a bowl of the salsa verde and the salad.
Recipe from Dinner at Mine?: New Inspiration for Everyday Ingredients by Kate Young (Head of Zeus, £25)