Slow roast lamb shoulder and lamb fat potatoes
This roast lamb shoulder is the perfect star of a Sunday lunch. The shoulder is slow roasted for three and a half hours until tender, and scented with cumin and fennel. The crispy roast potatoes and charred spring vegetables are the perfect accompaniment. This recipe is taken from The Changing Tides by Roberta Hall McCarron (£25, Kitchen Press). Photography by Rebecca Dickson.
Rebecca says: 'One of my favourite parts of this dish is the potatoes – they taste incredible cooked in the fat that’s dripped from the shoulder!'
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
Lamb shoulder
- 1.5kg lamb shoulder, bone in
- 2 tbsp of sunflower oil
- 1 tbsp of cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp of fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp of sea salt
- 3 sticks of celery, roughly chopped
- 4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 4 bay leaves
- 10g of thyme
- 1 garlic bulb
Lamb fat potatoes
- 1.5kg Maris Piper potatoes
- 1 tbsp of fine salt
Charred greens
- salt
- 150g of green beans, trimmed
- 150g of sugar snap peas
- 1 tsp sunflower oil
- 40g of wild garlic
- 40g of wild leek leaves
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
Method
Preheat your oven to 165°C fan
Drizzle the lamb with the sunflower oil, then sprinkle the cumin and fennel seeds and sea salt all over it
- 1.5kg lamb shoulder, bone in
- 2 tbsp of sunflower oil
- 1 tbsp of cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp of fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp of sea salt
Place the chopped celery, carrots and onion in the bottom of a roasting tray with the bay leaves and thyme
- 3 sticks of celery, roughly chopped
- 4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 4 bay leaves
- 10g of thyme
Cut the garlic bulb in half across and add it to the veg, then pop the lamb shoulder on top and cover with tin foil
Cook for 2½ hours, then take off the tin foil and cook for another hour, until the meat is tender and falling off the bone
Whilst the lamb is cooking you can organise your potatoes. Peel and cut them to whatever size you like your roasties
- 1.5kg Maris Piper potatoes
Place them in a pot, cover with cold water and add the tablespoon of fine salt. Bring them to the boil over a medium heat and cook for 10 minutes, until the outside is cooked but they’re still a little hard in the middle
- 1 tbsp of fine salt
Drain off the water and put them back in the pot, put the lid on and shake them around so they get a little bashed
Take the lamb out of the roasting tin and set it aside to rest
Turn the oven up to 200°C fan
Use a slotted spoon to remove the veg from the roasting tin, leaving behind as much of the fat that has dripped out of the lamb as you can
Put the tin back in the oven for 5 minutes to get the fat nice and hot, then carefully add the parboiled potatoes and roll them around so they’re covered in fat
Roast the potatoes for 30 minutes, until golden and crispy, turning them every 10 minutes or so
Just before you’re ready to eat, do the charred greens. Fill a pot with water and enough salt that it tastes like the sea and bring to a boil
Blanch the green beans and sugar snaps for 3 minutes, then drain and pat the vegetables dry
- 150g of green beans, trimmed
- 150g of sugar snap peas
In a large frying pan, heat the sunflower oil so it’s hot, then add the sugar snaps and green beans and sauté for 30 seconds
- 1 tsp sunflower oil
Add in the wild garlic and wild leeks and cook for another 30 seconds, keeping the pan moving, until they’ve wilted down
- 40g of wild garlic
- 40g of wild leek leaves
Mix the lemon juice and olive oil together and dress the greens
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
Put the potatoes on to your serving dish and place the lamb shoulder on top, then scatter the dressed greens around the edges
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