Lamb sales always pick up this time of year and rightfully so with Easter on Sunday, April 21st. This year we are bringing in 6 whole Anderson Ranch Lambs to break down for special orders and to fill the case. It is always a fun time of year as the blossoms bloom and we emerge from our winter coats. Anna and I always host Easter dinner for the family as it was the only holiday dinner unclaimed to host. I have done numerous preparations of lamb for Easter, but the slow roasted bone-in lamb shoulder I made last year was my favorite! I needed something easy to cook so I grabbed a whole bone-in lamb shoulder and coated it with fresh herbs, anchovies, orange peel, chili flakes and olive oil. From there, I set it in a dutch oven on top of vegetable scraps I had in the freezer and slow roasted it all day. As the roast cooked down, it released its juices and started to fall off the bone. It was the best au jus ever! We served it with buttered carrots & peas with mint and Grandma Flint’s potato salad. I am most certainly going to do it again this year. See recipe below:
You will need:
1 whole Lamb shoulder, either bone-in or boneless
6 fl. oz. Olive Oil
5 grams / 1 tablespoon fennel seed (ground)
5 grams / 1 tablespoon red chili flake
15 grams / 4 tablespoons ground black pepper
8-10 cloves of garlic, chopped
20 grams / 1 cup lightly packed fresh rosemary chopped
7 anchovy filets
zest from 1 large navel orange chopped
Chop rosemary, orange zest, garlic and the anchovy and place in a small bowl. Add ground pepper, fennel seed, chili flake and olive oil. Mix well. This is now ready to massage on to your roast.
This will work with any size roast whether it is boneless or bone-in. You can use this method with any type of meat as well (except maybe chicken).
The night before you want to cook the roast: salt the roast generously and let sit for an hour to allow the salt to start penetrating the meat. After salting, rub the rosemary & orange marinade all over the roast. Store in refrigerator overnight. The morning you want to cook, pull the meat out of the refrigerator and let sit for an hour or so at room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Place the veggie scraps (or chopped mire poix) in the bottom of a dutch oven or large roasting pan with a heavy lid. You can really add any type of aromatic veggies, herb stems, spices, zest or bay leaves to the pan as well. Place seasoned lamb shoulder on the veggie base and put the lid on. Place in oven and forget about it….well don’t totally forget about it. After 1.5 hours of cooking, decrease the oven temp down to 250 degrees. Roast at 250 degrees for at least 6 hours. Pull the lid off about an hour from service to brown up the surface.
Once cooked, remove lamb shoulder from the pan and strain off the juices. The rendered fat will settle on the top so just spoon off most of the fat layer. A little fat will not hurt anything, Serve the shoulder whole and let your guests pick it apart or carefully pull the meat off the bone on to a warm serving platter. Keep Jus warm until ready to serve.
Call to reserve your shoulder today 1.206.467.6328