Roasted Lamb Shoulder

A lamb shoulder is such an easy dish to make. TRUST ME please. You place it in the oven, and walk away  and a few hours later, it’s ready.  The meat  will roast,  melting  the fat, its juices will create a fantastic jus/sauce in the bottom of the pan. You will need  plenty of yummy bread for soaking up the juices.
I roasted lamb for New Year's Eve, we used our brick oven, it was out of this world, I don't know why we waited so long, to roast this cut of meat. The meat was falling off the bone, fork tender.

I was inspired by Jamie Oliver's recipe in his book Jamie at Home, online the recipe can be found here.

***I did however do things a bit different. I used lots of rosemary, pulled of the stem. I also used lots of chopped garlic lots ! I marinated the lamb shoulder the day before, rubbing the rosemary, garlic, sea salt and black pepper, into the meat. I did not make the gravy or the veggies, instead on the side, just roasted a big pan of baby potatoes with olive oil, sea salt and garlic.
Ours was roasted in the the brick oven, the original recipe is in the oven.**




Ingredients

1 shoulder of lamb on the bone, about 2 kg.
1 whole garlic bulb or more
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lots and lots of fresh of rosemary stems.
Olive oil for drizzling


******Pre-heat the oven to its highest setting.( before roasting)
The day before : With a sharp knife, score the skin of the joint every 2.5 cm (1"). Cut about halfway through the fat.

Using plenty of salt and pepper, season the lamb on both sides, ensuring you get plenty into the slashes you have made.

Smash the garlic bulb to separate all of the cloves and place half of them, unpeeled, in the base of a suitable sized roasting tray.

Distribute most of the rosemary stems evenly into the base of the tray.

Sit the meat, skin-side upwards, into the roasting tray and place the remaining garlic cloves on the top of the skin, together with the remaining rosemary stems.

Drizzle 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil over the skin of the lamb.

Cover with 2 layers of tin-foil and fold the edges over the edge of the roasting tin to ensure a good seal.

Place the joint in the oven on the top shelf and instantly turn the oven down to 160° C (325° F - gas 3)

Leave to roast slowly for 4 hours.

After 4 hours, remove the lamb, together with the garlic, and put the meat on a pre-heated plate. Cover loosely with a piece of foil and leave to rest for a while before carving and serving with the sauce.

xo, Diana