Slow Food - Spiced Lamb Shoulder

Lamb shoulder on the bone is the ultimate set and forget kind of meal, leaving you with more time on your hands to do whatever it is you please!  It's the perfect recipe for a long lunch as well as being a handy dinner option if you're working from home, so you can work away while the oven does the magic in creating beautifully tender and juicy lamb. Flavoured with garlic, rosemary, cumin and sumac, it transforms into a tasty dinner or lunch the following day. Our favourites are topping flatbread with a garlicky yoghurt, a lamb and veggie pie or a sanga with some of Tom Sarafians famous Toum.  

Ingredients:

• 2.2kg lamb shoulder on the bone
• 2 brown onions, peeled and quartered
• 2 lemons, halved
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp sumac
• 3 tbsp olive oil 
• 250ml dry white wine

Method:

1. Take the lamb out of the fridge and bring to room temperature, around 1-2 hours before you plan on cooking and preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius.
2. Place the onions and lemons on a baking tray, followed by the lamb.
3. Using a skewer stick of sharp knife, make some incisions into the lamb so that the marinade can penetrate through.
4. In a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic cloves and salt until a smooth paste has formed. Add in the toasted cumin seeds and rosemary and slightly crush.
5. Add in the sumac and olive oil and stir to combine.
6. Slather the marinade all over the lamb and massage into all areas.
7. Pour the white wine around the lamb.
8. Cover lamb with a piece of baking paper and then foil and seal tightly.
9. Cook in oven for around 5 hours of until the lamb is nice and tender.
10. Turn the oven up to 200 degrees and remove the foil and baking paper and cook for a further 20 mins to get some colour on the lamb.