Lamb for That Sunday Treat
If any one is actually reading this, you will know that I’m a great big fat lover of chicken, but sometimes I go off the road and crave a bit of lamb.
I do appreciate a nicely cooked lamb joint for Sunday lunch, of f course with all the trimmings (never sure exactly what that means).
I’m very often a slow cooked lamb kinda gal. I like to go down the olive and tomato flavour profile. Or even a nice Moroccan kind of dish.
But this recipe is in the oven, for a slow roast with lots of flavour but going down the paprika, garlic and rosemary taste sensation.
Sometimes , especially in weather like were having in County Durham-wet, wet and more wet- along with short days, long nights and of course this bloody lockdown, I like to put something in the oven, grab the new pup and of course the lovely Mr G, get us all wrapped up and head right out into the weather for a long walk. Well, I should say a walk just long enough to make sure that I don’t over walk the new pup.
Apparently it’s 5 minutes for every month of her life, is that true?
To get back from a good walk to the smell of warm spiced lamb roasting in the oven, is a treat, and while the lovely Mr G takes the pup off for a bath, (not together I have to add) I will get on with the rest of the meal.
Which doesn’t usually take that much effort, once the lamb is ready.
While its out of the oven covered and resting, I get on with cooking the vegetables. With this lamb, full of flavour and juice, I don’t want to do too much the vegetables.
Keeping vegetables simple might seem like an easy thing to do, and it should be, but with simple cooking can sometimes mean lack of flavour.
Easily solved.
Use lots of fabulous fresh ground pepper- red, pink or black, and some of my favourite, Maldon salt.
Don’t confuse Maldon salt with table salt.
It’s a completely different thing.
Maldon salt adds flavour while table salt adds bitterness, not something I want to add to my cooking.
If you want a great Sunday lunch lamb dish that you can put in the oven to cook while you go about your day, this is the one for you.
No need for quantities of the ingredients, that’s up to you. This is just a recipe that gives you an idea of the flavours to use.
An easy recipe that relies on you to determine how much flavour you want to add.
Bit of advice here, add more than you think, you won’t be disappointed.
I don’t want to say that’s its fool proof, but unless you’re a fool, you won’t get it wrong.
Go on, give it a go.
Enjoy Your Sweet Life.
Slow Cooked Garlic, Paprika & Rosemary Lamb
All those juices, make sure you scrape down the pan to use for your gravy.
What You Need
Leg or Shoulder of Lamb – The size that suits you
Garlic Cloves – As many as you need
Paprika between 2-4 tablespoons - depending on size of the lamb
Fresh springs of rosemary - washed
Malden Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper – Black, Pink or Red
Olive oil – Approximately ½ cup
Ready for the oven
How It’s Done
In a bowl add the oil, salt, pepper & paprika and mix well to combine.
Cut slits all over the skin of the lamb
Rub and massage the paprika mixture all over the lamb skin, and insert whole garlic cloves and rosemary springs into the cuts of the skin.
Set the lamb aside in a cool place to marinate for at least 2 hours, let it reach room temperature before cooking – See Tip Box
Heat the oven to 180c – See Tip Box
Put the lamb in the oven and let it cook for 1 hour. After an hour, cover loosely with foil, replace in the oven and cook for a further 2-3 hours.
When cooked, let it rest under the foil for 30 minutes before serving.
Before the loose foil covering for the rest of the cooking.
Tip Box
Oven – All ovens are different so adjust cooking time accordingly.
Lamb – a) Letting the meat come to room temperature means that cooking will be more even than if it wasn’t.
b) – This recipe works really well with shoulder or leg of lamb. Shoulder is a little more fatty than leg, but very tasty.
c) – Resting the lamb after cooking ,will make sure that the juices stay inside the meat and not all over the chopping board.
Dig in
