Slow Food, Slow Lamb
Some enchanted evening you may walk into a room filled with the glorious aroma of slow cooking lamb. That's what happened to me courtesy of Slow Food Scotland - see Wednesday's column.
There's only one thing better than eating great food, and that's when someone sends you the recipe so you can attempt to recreate it. SFS were as good as their word with today's lamb shoulder recipe, and honest enough to say that they had sourced it from Urban Farm and Kitchen, a blog from a Toronto based enthusiastic cook and forager called Luay. I've signed up to it, as should you. I've asked if it's OK to reproduce his recipe here.
A couple of comments. My own recipe for lamb shoulder was one of the most popular ever. In that one, to get the depth of flavour I seared the lamb and roasted it on its own for half an hour or so. Luay, on the other hand, starts his, along with the aromats, at a ferocious heat. I haven't tried this, but Sorina's version was terrific.
The second thing was the reference to 7-spice. I didn't know what that was, but it's also known as baharat. Great. I think I have a jar in the cupboard. The only trouble is that I'm not sure I know what that is either. The name in Arabic simply means spices. Many countries have their own spice blends - think garam masala or ras el hanout - which can vary according to the whim of the cook. If you don't have baharat, use equal quantities of cumin, coriander and cinnamon.
Some books will advocate a slow cook for a leg of lamb. I would always use shoulder. The fat adds moisture and flavour. As everyone's oven is different, keep an eye on it in the latter stages. Top up with a little extra stock or water if the meat isn't falling off the bone by the end of the cooking time. Having said that, you want the end product to be nicely sticky and unctuous. So with no more from me, here's the recipe (well, as adapted by me).
Ingredients
About 2kg boned shoulder of lamb; 2 onions, peeled and quartered; 2 heads of garlic cut in half horizontally; a few sprigs of rosemary; double that number of sprigs of thyme; a few bay leaves; olive oil; 250ml chicken stock; 125ml white wine (or omit the wine and use 375ml stock).
For the spice rub
1 tbsp sea salt; 2 tsp baharat (see above); 2 tsp garlic powder - use salt free garlic powder, not garlic seasoning; 1 teaspoon black pepper; ½ tsp ground cardamom.
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Mix the spice rub ingredients together and rub well into the lamb. If you have time, leave for an hour or two.
Preheat your oven to full whack - 260˚C if it'll go that high. I think that's Mark 10.
Put the onion and the herbs in a roasting tin. Put the lamb on top and give it a good drizzle of olive oil. Chuck into the oven for 20 minutes. Then lower your oven to 150˚C/ Mark 2. Add the stock and wine, if using, to the roasting dish, cover with foil and place it back in the oven to slow roast. (Editor's note - the recipe says 4-5 hours. I'd recommend you check it after 3, topping up with liquid if necessary.)
Once your lamb is falling-off-the-bone tender, remove the foil, baste, then zap up the heat until the whole panful is nicely sticky.
Allow to rest, then gorge.