Thursday 25 August 2011

Roasted Shoulder of Lamb with an Olive and Anchovy Rub


Now that I’m working back as a waitress at the restaurant that I worked at over my gap year, the amount that I am cooking has seriously depleted. When I’ve been serving food all day the last thing I want to do is stand over the cooker trying out new recipes so supper’s have generally consisted of quick pasta dishes or having my parents cook food for me!!

This will all change when I’m moved in to my new flat back in Brighton, with its AMAZING red, shiny brand new kitchen, with a fridge taller then me (and I am 5’11) and a work surface 3 times bigger then my last, but for the moment new posts will remain less frequent.

I’m really lucky to have parents that have always cooked delicious and often unusual meals, my mum following and tweaking recipes and my dad making things more from scratch – I’d like to think my cooking style is somewhere in between. My dad is especially good at incorporating whatever he can find in the fridge and transforming it in to a delicious supper. This rolled lamb shoulder that we made together for a Sunday Roast is no exception, and although I have included ingredients and measurements much of what is listed can be substituted or tweaked to make an equally lovely rub for the meat. Using rolled lamb shoulder is cheaper then the leg of lamb alternative, and buying it de-boned and rolled makes it easier to carve. The result is deliciously tender slow roasted meat infused with the rub, and pieces of olive and melt in the mouth garlic with every mouthful providing a kick.

Serves 6-8
1.8kg rolled lamb shoulder
-For the Rub-
5 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
9 anchovy fillets
12 pitted dry black olives (I use Crespo)
2 tsp seasalt, mixed with half a teaspoon of dried mixed herbs
handful of rosemary sprigs
  1. Put the meat into a roasting tin. Make slits in the lamb and add slices of 2 cloves of garlic, pushing them right in. Add 5 anchovy fillets, cut into thirds, into the slits, and finally the sprigs of rosemary.
  2. Crush 3 cloves of garlic, 4 anchovy fillets, olives and salt in a pestle and mortar to make a paste.
  3. Rub onto the joint and in the tops of the slits, as well as into the rolled meat at the ends.
  4. Pour ½ a mug of water into the tin and cover the meat with a foil tent. Leave to marinate for 2 hours.
  5. Preheat the oven to 200C and roast at this temperature for the first half an hour. Then turn down the heat to 170C and cook for a further 2 and a half hours, basting once or twice.
  6. Take off the foil for the last 20 minutes of cooking to crisp it up. Take out of the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes before carving. Serve with roast veg and mint sauce. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...