Slow Roasted Shoulder of Lamb with Spiced Smoked Garlic Marinade

This recipe is may be for slow cooking, but it’s super quick on the preparation, especially if as I did you have the marinade leftover from another recipe (Sirloin Steak with Spiced Smoked Garlic Marinade).

A problem I’ve often found when searching for slow roasted lamb recipes online is they always seem to assume you have a massive whole shoulder, and just give the cooking time for a large quantity. But what if you just have a small and thin joint and want to feed 2 people on a weeknight, but still cook the meat at  a low temperature? So I did what I usually do in times of culinary crisis and turned to a Mary Berry book. I knew just the one to consult, Day by Day Cooking. It’s from the 70s but is still available to buy online, and the best bit about it is as well as having a chapter on meat dishes it also has a chapter devoted to roasts, with cooking times, methods and accompaniment for all sorts of meat, poultry and game. Mary really came through, giving slow roasting times for small or thin joints (30 minutes per lb/450g plus 30 minutes), thicker joints (35 minutes per lb/450g plus 35 minutes), and large boned joints (45 minutes per lb/450g plus 45 minutes) with the oven set on 160°C/Gas 3. This book predates fan assisted ovens but I find the general rule in adjusting temperature is to knock 20°s off so I set my oven to 140°C and the result was perfectly cooked juicy lamb!

When slow roasting meat I like to place it on a trivet/wire rack with a bit of water in the bottom of the roasting pan and lightly cover it with foil until the last half hour of cooking to keep the meat really moist.

Ingredients:

Whole coriander seeds – 2 teaspoons

Whole cumin seed – 2 teaspoons

Smoked paprika – 2 teaspoons

Smoked garlic – 3 cloves (peeled)

Olive oil – a good glug

Lamb shoulder – 1.5lb/700g

Equipment: Mulit-mill/pestle & mortar, spoon, plate, roasting tin with wire rack/trivet

Method:

1. Put the seeds in the multi-mill, attach to Kenwood and pulse until ground.
2. Add the garlic, smoked paprika and olive oil, re-attached to Kenwood and pulse until smooth.
3. Spoon over the joint and rub in well. Leave to marinate for as long as you can.
4. Season the skin with salt and pepper, put on a wire rack/trivet over a baking tray and pour enough water in the baking tray to cover the bottom.
5. Cover the meat lightly with foil and put in a preheated oven (160°C/Fan 140°C/Gas 3) and work out the cooking time depending on the size and weight of your joint (see above). Mine was in for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 30 minutes.
6. Once cooked leave the meat to rest for 10 minutes before carving.