Dear Eric: Can you provide me with a lamb shoulder roast recipe?
Hans
Dear Hans: Lamb shoulder roasts are cut from the front part of the animal below the neck. In grocery stores and butcher shops, lamb shoulder roasts come in varying sizes and are sold bone-in or boned, rolled and tied. Boneless roasts are great for stuffing before cooking with items such as cooked spinach, bread crumbs, garlic, herbs and other flavourings.
Because of its added connective tissue, lamb shoulder roasts are not quite as tender as other cuts, such as the loin, but those tissues do make it more flavourful.
That said, when taken from a young animal, lamb shoulder is not so tough that you could not season and cook it using a dry heat method, such as roasting. If cooked no more than medium and thinly sliced, it can be quite delicious.
However, because of its added chewiness, I really enjoy braising and cooking lamb shoulder as I would a beef pot roast. Seasoning and searing the meat first, placing it a Dutch oven or other oven-safe cooking vessel, adding a rich braising liquid and covering and cooking the lamb in the oven until mouth-wateringly tender and almost falling apart is my favourite method for producing a spectacular lamb shoulder dish.
I used that method in today’s recipe, which is flavoured North African-style with citrus, tomato and aromatic spices including cumin, coriander, cinnamon and cayenne. For added colour and a hit of fresh flavour, I topped the lamb after cooking and slicing with fresh mint and ruby red pomegranate seeds.
Create a fine meal by serving the lamb with couscous, warm pita, a steamed green vegetable drizzled with lemon juice — perhaps broccolini or green beans — and tzatziki.
You’ll see in the recipe that I’ve given you the option to use a lamb shoulder roast, or lamb leg shank roast, a roast cut from the lower portion of the back leg. Either will work in this recipe.
I also know some folks out there buy a whole, butchered local lamb and keep it frozen until the various cuts from it are needed and wonder what to do with some of them.
For a list of farms selling local lamb, go the Southern Vancouver Island Direct Farm Marketing Association website, islandfarmfresh.com, click on products then on lamb.
Lamb Pot Roast with Citrus, Spice and Pomegranate
Aromatic, tender and rich tasting lamb flavoured North African-style, with such things as orange, cumin, garlic and more.
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: About three to three and half hours
Makes: four servings
1 (2 1/4 to 2 1/2 lb.) bone-in lamb shoulder roast or shank portion leg roast
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium leek, white and pale green part only, halved lengthwise, washed, dried and sliced
1 large carrot, halved lengthwise and sliced
2 medium or large garlic cloves, chopped
1 (14 oz./398 mL) can tomato sauce
1 cup beef stock
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• small whole or chopped fresh mint leaves, to taste
1/2 to 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Season the lamb with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or ovenproof pot set over medium-high. Add the lamb, deeply brown on all sides and then set on a plate.
Drain all but 1 Tbsp of the fat from the pot. Add the leek, carrot and garlic and cook three minutes. Add the tomato sauce, stock, vinegar, sugar, zest and juice, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and cayenne.
Bring the mixture to simmer, and then set the roast back in the pot. Cover and cook in the oven two and a half to three hours, or until the lamb is very tender. Remove the lamb from the pot, set on plate, tent with foil and rest 10 minutes.
Skim any fat from the surface of the sauce in the pot. (If the sauce has overly reduced, you could thin it with a little hot beef stock.) Slice the lamb and arrange on a platter. Top with the sauce, sprinkle with the mint and pomegranate seeds and serve.
Eric Akis is the author of the hardcover book Everyone Can Cook Everything. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
