As we near the end of the year, there’s so much going on, and in our modern society there’s now a lot of pressure on us to entertain friends and family too — something that usually involves cooking with a lil’ bit of drinking on the side, if you know what I mean!
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Big ups to the mums and dads out there that are now dealing with school finishing and Christmas on the way — not long to go now!
It’s at this point that the anxiety kicks in: What am I going to cook? How much do I need? What’s the best way to roast potatoes? etc. etc. This is where I come in to help you give the impending social anxiety a big “F&$k you!”, by sharing a lamb shoulder recipe that’s so good that even your mother-in-law will pretend to like you!
Plus, I’ll even throw in a salad and a side, because I’ve got your back.
This is where we put our food manufacturing hats on and shit gets real.
Onion Pickle
This pickle works great as an accompaniment as it cuts through the fat of the lamb shoulder.
Ingredients
2 x Spanish Onions
(these are the bad boys that we’ll pickle)
100ml Malt Vinegar
100ml Good Olive Oil
1 x tbsp. Oregano
1 x tbsp. Sugar
Method
Top and tail the onion, cutting out the core and then slice as finely as you can.
Mix all the ingredients together and let sit to marinate.
The Salad
Ingredients
1 x Iceberg Lettuce
1 x Lemon
300 gm Salted Ricotta
Good Quality Olive Oil
Method
Tear the lettuce into pieces half the size of your palm.
Crumble the salted ricotta on top, making sure you try some for quality control (how bloody good is it?!).
Squeeze the lemon over.
Finally, drizzle with olive oil.
Lamb Shoulder
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 5 hours and 15 min
Ingredients
1 x 2.4kg (or thereabouts) Lamb Shoulder (Gippsland has the best lamb I’ve eaten. The
Five Mile Lamb out of Tarwin Lower, South Gippsland is amazing!)
For the marinade
(Shit, sorry, it’s long but it’s necessary)
2 x tbsp. Salt
2 x tbsp. Garlic Powder
1 x tbsp. Black Pepper
1 x tbsp. Onion Powder
1 x tbsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 x tbsp. Dried Oregano
1 x tbsp. Dried Thyme
1 x tbsp. White Pepper
1 x tbsp. Smoked Paprika
1 x tbsp. Marjoram
250ml Olive Oil
Method
Preheat oven to 190°C.
Mix all the marinade ingredients together and massage on the lamb shoulder, making sure to cover the entire surface.
Place on a cake cooling rack inside a deep roasting tray with an approximately 3-4cm gap at all sides, just be sure that the lamb does not have any contact with the roasting tray.
Then cook in oven uncovered for 30 minutes.
Now cover the lamb: first with baking paper, and then double foil, making sure it’s airtight with no gaps.
Place one cup of water in the roasting tray.
Place in oven for four hours, checking every hour to ensure the roasting tray isn’t drying out.
Top up if necessary.
After the four hours have passed, drop the oven to 160°C and cook uncovered for the last 45 minutes to give it the nice crispy finish we all love.
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Finally, tell your mother-in-law that I say “Hi!”
