I have a penchant for slow roasted lamb and my seven hour lamb recipe is the most popular page on this whole blog. I know! I was sure those posts about depression, anxiety, giving birth and breast feeding would hit the high hit market and bring me the big bucks. Now I just feel cheap and used.
crickets
So, lamb. This was inspired by Chocolate and Zucchini’s slow roasted lamb shoulder. I have kept the quantities pretty vague as it depends on the size of your leg and it really is pretty flexible – add more rosemary if you like it, more garlic if it’s your thing, go without the garlic if you feel like it. I will say though, don’t, just don’t omit the anchovies. I know I know, lots of people ‘hate the anchovy’ but in this you certainly don’t taste anything remotely like it but it adds a complex saltiness that is incredibly moreish. So look, just relax and go with it. It is an absolute sensation.
Slow roasted lamb with rosemary, lemon and anchovies
- 1-2 large sprigs of rosemary
- rind from 1-2 lemons (peeled thinly using a vegetable peeler)
- 10 anchovy fillets
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoons whole mustard seeds (I’ve used wholegrain mustard before and it works a treat)
- freshly ground black pepper
- A good splash of balsamic vinegar
- An equally good splash of olive oil
- 2-2.5kg leg of lamb or lamb shoulder
- white wine
- stock
- 2 onions
- 2 large carrots
- 1 stick celery
- Put everything except the lamb (obviously) in a mortar and pestle and pound the absolute crap out of it.
- No really, you want it all reduced to a paste so don’t use one of those pissy little useless ones.
- OK, use a blender if you must but you get a much nicer texture if you put a bit of elbow grease into it.
- Rub the paste all over the lamb and let it marinade for as long as you can
- Preheat the oven to 220C and bring the lamb to room temperature
- In a baking dish place the roughly cut up onions, carrots and celery and then put the lamb on top of it
- Pour a couple of glasses of wine and stock into the base of the baking dish
- Roast at 220C for 30 minutes
- Turn the meat and turn the temperature down to 120C (or a smidge higher if your oven isn’t fan-forced)
- Cook for 2.5hours, turning the meat every half hour or so
- If your baking dish starts to dry out then add some more stock (mine does this as it’s a hot fast oven and I always forget to turn it down low enough due to pathetic obsessive tendencies of thinking it won’t cook in time)
- If it’s browning too quickly cover with some foil
- Once it’s cooked remove from pan, cover and set aside.
- Tip everything in the pan into a sieve and using the back of a large spoon or ladle push all those beautiful juices through, discard the pulp, return to the stove and add a little more stock if it needs thinning out.