Yesterday, we had decided that today we should have some roast lamb. We were in the market for half a leg of lamb when we arrived at our local butcher yesterday, but we ended up taking half a shoulder instead because there was one on display and we couldn’t remember having cooked shoulder before.
So when we got home, we had a look for some recipes. Most of the recipes for shoulder of lamb required the shoulder to be boned and cut up: these weren’t the recipes that we were looking for. Eventually, we came across a Jamie recipe that involved roasting the lamb for four hours with garlic and rosemary and then making sauce out of the juices by adding stock, mint and capers. This sounded very good indeed, so this is what we did.
The recipe said to put the joint in a roasting dish and then cover it with foil. The sounded rather like a faux-rustic Jamieism, so instead we opted to cook it properly, in a casserole dish with a lid, which worked out rather well. The fattiness of the shoulder cut combined with the length of cooking time resulted in lamb that tasted a bit like lamb confit: rich and fully flavoured. Some of the lamb had gone crispy on the outside while the inside remained succulent, giving a lovely contrast.
We served this with lemony leeks, mashed swede, mashed potato and steamed cabbage. It all went together brilliantly; the minty-and-capery sauce was just the thing to accompany the succulent, rich lamb and went well with the vegetables too.
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Ah, MIL followed this recipe a few days ago and she loved it. Look at that meat falling off the bone! mmmmm
I thin faux-rustic Jamieism is my new favourite phrase.
Hi Guys – thanks for your amazing and daily inspirational blog – love it!
Where can I look up the Jamie recipe you site on February 3rd 2008 for slow roasted shoulder of lamb? I’ve looked on line and in the three Jamie books I have – no luck. Would appreciate the info as the mint / caper sauce sounds delicious.
Thanks,
Julia
Hi Julia,
Glad you’re enjoying the blog.
I really thought I had this recipe stored somewhere but I can’t find it. This is the closest I can get to it, I think it’s pretty much what we did. Original is from Jamie at Home and I think there was a big hoohaa over on his site about people posting recipes from the show before the book was released; that’s probably why we can’t find it 🙂
http://www.recipezaar.com/277732
Thanks for your comments on the Jamie slow roast lamb… in Florida and have dinner party tonight and it sounds just what to have. Thanks for your help.
Joyce, I hope it turned out well! We were just saying that we should cook this again soon, as it is really good.
Hiya, working in a ski chalet in france and saw your recipe, thought I’d give it to the guests and they loved it, served it with vegetables, roast potatoes and red wine gravy. I’ll be doing it every week from now on. Thanks alot, Dawn
I’m glad you liked it Dawn, it seems perfect for a bunch of hungry skiers!
Hi
Not often i’ll stick up for jamie – but cooked shoulder of lamb years ago in france – where it was necessary to put foil directly over the meat then caserole lid over the top.. the reason is to seal in & retain all the moisture. This way you avoid crispiness too. Horses for courses if you want crispy lamb i guess. thanks
I see the sense in using foil as well as a tight-fitting lid, Carol but I really enjoy the crispy lamb as a contrast to the tender pieces and I don’t feel that there is any loss in moisture…although I won’t know that for sure until I try. We’ve just done a different version of this so I can’t test it straight away but I’m sure it won’t be long before we eat it again!
I cooked this for our Easter dinner and have to say it was the best roast lamb I have ever eaten! I served this with mashed sweet potato, chard and broccoli. The piquancy of the sauce enriched with capers really complements the sweet, tender lamb – which almost fell off the bone. Of course now we have the joy of standing by the worktop and tearing off the leftover strands and chunks for our dinner/lunch/afternoon snack.
I like lamb. Not your lamb.
That’s a shame, Fred. What didn’t you like about it?
If you want it crispy but still really moist inside, seal with foil for the first 3.5 hours then remove the foil for the last 20-30 minutes.
What starter would you serve with this?
We don’t usually serve a starter, Zoe, as it’s quite a rich and heavy dish. I would probably go for something fishy if I was going to serve anything.
I made this today and I’m a happy woman!
I’m glad you liked it! I think we’re going to cook this on Easter Sunday actually.