On Sundays during the winter I like to cook up a big storm, often starting with a delicious roast meal that can then be made into additional meals later in the week. This weekend I made a slow-roasted lamb shoulder…. delicious! I’m not a big fan of lamb leg – I find it dry, and have always been more of a ‘shanks’ girl myself, and since discovering lamb shoulder I have been converted by the meltingly tender meat you can get as a result of slow roasting.
I am currently only cooking for 2, and this 1kg boned shoulder makes for a very generous 2 meals.
Slow Roasted Lamb Meal for 2:
approx 1kg sized boned lamb shoulder roast
couple of sprigs fresh thyme
skin of 1 preserved lemon (or lemon zest)
1-2 garlic cloves* (if you can tolerate some garlic… you can take out the whole cloves once you have roasted the meat)
200ml white wine
handful kalamata olives
splash water
olive oil
s&p
3-4 baby kumara
bunch silverbeet (on special this week!)
italian parsley
Heat your oven to 200°C. Remove the elastic net from the rolled lamb shoulder and use a skewer to hold it all together. Place in a small roasting dish with the lemon, garlic, olives & white wine. Drizzle over some olive oil and season the meat with the thyme and s&p. Put, uncovered into the over for 30 mins. Remove lamb from the oven, add a bit of water to top up the liquid in the pan and then cover tightly with foil. Turn the oven down to 170°C and put the lamb back in for 2.5 hours.
Cut the kumara into large chunks, and roast on a separate tray along with the lamb for the last 40-50 mins of cooking time.
When the lamb has about 30 mins to go, slice up the silverbeet, cutting the stalks finely. Saute the stalks slowly in butter for at least 15 mins before adding the leaves. You don’t need to add any water, just allow the water from washing to steam the leaves. Put the lid on the pan and turn down to low, shaking occasionally.
When the lamb has finished cooking remove the meat to a plate and cover with the foil. Put the roasting dish on the heat and bubble the liquid to make a gravy. Add extra water if necessary, mush the lemon (and garlic if you can tolerate) into the gravy, season with s&p and thicken with a little cornflour/water slurry. This gravy is quite strong due to the preserved lemons, so taste carefully and don’t be wary of adding extra water if you find it too strong.
Pull the lamb apart with forks, and serve it up with piles of silverbeet, roast kumara, and gravy and sprinkly generously with parsley! YUM! I find that having a large serving of green veges instead of overdoing the roast veg sometimes makes you feel a little less full and lethargic!
Next-day Moroccan style stew
This meal is inspired by one in the fantastic book Economy Gastronomy by Allegra McEvedy and Paul Merrett – two of my favourite chefs from the Brit food show ‘Market Kitchen’. This book focuses on delicious food cooked from scratch, but in a way that makes life easier for busy families. My concept of creative left-overs comes very much from this book, where there is a section of ‘Bedrocks’ that then ‘tumble down’ into a few nights’ worth of dinners.
You will need:
the left over roast lamb shoulder
1/2 leek* (if tolerated)
4 small carrots
4 small potatoes
2 tbsp harissa (North African Chilli paste… check the ingreds – mine is FODMAP friendly!)
1 can diced tomatoes
frozen beans
extra cumin, paprika and cinnamon (to taste)
italian parsley
Put a medium pan/pot onto a medium heat with a glug of olive oil. Add the leeks, sliced in thick chunks; the carrots & potatoes, peeled and sliced lengthwise; the harrisa and canned tomatoes. Top up with water until all covered. Shred the lamb into the mix and bring to a simmer. On this occasion, I ran out of harrisa so added extra cumin, paprika and a little cinnamon to taste. Simmer for at least 30 mins until the potatoes are tender. Add the beans and simmer another 5-10 mins. Stir through the parsley and serve with millet (my FODMAP-friendly substitute for couscous), or as I have with crostini made from a spelt foccacia.
Delicious!
A FODMAP-free fantasy 