Braised Lamb Shoulder With Oregano And Preserved Lemon Food

SLOW-COOKED LAMB WITH LEMON AND OREGANO

Steps:

• Combine lemon juice, oil, oregano, and water in a large nonreactive baking dish. Rub lamb all over with salt and pepper, and place in marinade, turning to coat well. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 24 hours, turning once or twice.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer lamb and marinade to a roasting pan. Cover lamb with parchment, and cover pan tightly with heavy foil. Roast 1 hour, then flip lamb. Cover again, and reduce heat to 300 degrees. Roast lamb 2 hours.
• Flip lamb gently, since it will be very tender. Add potatoes to pan, and sprinkle with a little salt. Cover, and roast 1 hour. Raise heat to 400 degrees. Uncover, and roast until potatoes are golden around edges, 15 to 20 minutes.

ROSEMARY AND THYME BRAISED LAMB SHOULDER

Steps:

• Roast lamb:
• Make slits in lamb shoulder all over at 2-inch intervals with a paring knife.
• Pound garlic with kosher salt, zest, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper to a coarse paste with mortar and pestle (or mince and mash with a large knife), then stir together with oil and 1 tablespoon each of rosemary and thyme. Rub paste all over lamb. Put in heavy pot or roasting pan, then chill, covered, 12 to 24 hours.
• Bring roast to room temperature (about 1 hour).
• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in lower third.
• Pour wine and water around lamb and add herb sprigs. Cover roast with a sheet of parchment. Cover pot with lid or cover roasting pan tightly with heavy-duty foil. Braise lamb in oven until tender but not falling off the bone, about 3 hours.
• Increase oven to 450°F and remove parchment, then braise lamb, covered with lid (or foil), until very tender and top is browned, about 1 hour more. Carefully transfer lamb to a platter and loosely cover with foil. Let it stand 10 minutes.
• Make sauce:
• Pour braising liquid through a fine-mesh sieve, then spoon off and discard fat remaining on liquid (you should have about 2 cups liquid; reserve pot). Whisk together flour and 1 cup liquid in a small bowl until smooth. Bring remaining liquid to a boil in uncleaned pot, then whisk in flour mixture and boil, whisking, until thickened, about 4 minutes. Stir in thyme and rosemary and season with salt and pepper.
• To serve:
• Remove and discard strings. Meat is too tender to slice with a carving knife; use a meat fork to pull meat into serving pieces.

SLOW-BRAISED LAMB SHOULDER WITH PRESERVED LEMON AND SPICES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to its highest setting. Gently heat the cumin seeds in a small dry frying pan for 3-4 minutes until they start to pop and brown. Cool a little, then grind to a powder in a spice grinder/pestle and mortar.
• Put the cumin in a food processor with the preserved lemon, onion, garlic, cinnamon, coriander, 1 tbsp of the oil and some salt and pepper, then whizz to form a thick paste.
• Make slashes in the lamb skin about 1cm deep. Rub the spice mix over and into the slashes, then put the meat in the casserole. Add the pomegranate molasses, remaining 1 tbsp oil and 150ml water. Put a sheet of baking paper on top of the lamb, then a sheet of foil. Add the lid to cover as tightly as you can.
• Transfer the dish to the oven and turn the heat down to 130ºC fan/gas 2. Cook for 3½ hours. Remove the lid, foil and baking paper and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes. Remove from the oven - the meat should be falling from the bone (see Know How). Cover and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, beat together all the ingredients for the tahini sauce and season to taste.
• Serve the lamb with the tahini sauce, extra coriander and, if you like, lemon wedges on the side.

BRAISED LAMB SHOULDER WITH OREGANO AND PRESERVED LEMON

Steps:

• 1. To make the marinade, crush the garlic and oregano leaves in a mortar and pestle to form a rough paste. Rinse the preserved lemon and cut away and discard the inside flesh. Chop the rinsed skin, add to the mortar and crush everything together.
• 2. Sprinkle the lamb shoulder with 1 tbsp salt and season with black pepper, then rub the marinade all over both sides of the shoulder. Refrigerate on a baking tray, covered, for at least 8 hours or overnight.
• 3. The next day, remove the lamb from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan-forced). Cut the potatoes in half and place in a deep roasting dish where all the ingredients will fit snugly in one layer. Set aside.
• 4. Heat the olive oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat and cook the onion until deeply caramelised, about 10-15 minutes. Pour the onion and oil mixture over the potatoes. Add tomato, garlic cloves and herbs to the roasting dish. Drizzle the lemon juice over everything.
• 5. Add the stock to the same frypan with the extra ½ tsp salt and bring to a boil. Place the lamb in the centre of the roasting dish, moving some of the potatoes aside so it sits on the bottom of the dish. Pour the stock over the potatoes - add just enough to come three-quarters up the sides of the potatoes.
• 6. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and bake for 1½ hours. Flip the shoulder over, re-cover it with foil and continue braising for another hour (you may need to add more water or stock to the pan if it looks like it's drying out). Pull the meat out of the oven and take a look at it. If it still feels tough, cook for another hour, covered. Once it is starting to become tender and the bone is loosening, remove the foil and return the lamb to the oven, presentation side up, and continue cooking for a further 30 minutes to brown everything and get the meat meltingly tender.
• 7. When the meat and potatoes are browned, remove the lamb from the tray to rest for at least 15 minutes. If you want to brown the potatoes further, pour off the braising juices into a small pot and continue roasting the potatoes while the lamb rests.
• 8. To serve, place the meat on top of the potatoes. Taste the juices, adjust seasoning if needed, and warm. Serve juices in a gravy dish on the side so each guest can add more to their plates if desired.
• Serving suggestion: with my on the side and for dessert.
• Tips:
• *If you can't find preserved lemon, use the fine zest of a fresh lemon.
• These flavours are Mediterranean but use whatever herbs and spices you prefer.
• Keep an eye on the lamb shoulder as it cooks. You want the meat to be fall-apart tender before removing the foil to brown at the end.

LAMB SHOULDER WITH HERBS AND PRESERVED LEMONS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C fan
• Put all the ingredients (bar a handful of soft herbs and the lamb) into a food processor, add ½ tsp salt and blitz them up into a paste. Cover the lamb with it. If you can leave it in the marinade overnight, all the better, but if you don't have time, it is ready to be baked straight away
• Put the lamb and marinade into a cast-iron pan and cover it with a lid. Otherwise, especially if you are using a shoulder, you can also use a roasting tin and cover it tightly with a foil tent (just use 2 large pieces of foil and tent them over the meat without touching it). Cook for 30 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 160°C fan and cook for another 2 hours. Then lift the lid or foil off and have a look. The meat should be soft and coming away from the bone. If it is not quite there, cover it again and put it back in for another 30 minutes. Be careful not to dry out the lamb and keep checking, as a shoulder can take up to 3½ hours
• Take the lamb out of the oven, cover and rest in its juices for at least 20 minutes
• Pull the meat off the bone, discard the bones and large bits of fat, roughly shred larger pieces, then return to the tin. Taste, it may need a light sprinkling of salt
• If the lamb has been resting a while, you can pop it and the juices in the roasting tin under a hot grill to warm through and crisp up the meat on top
• You can shred the lamb and mix it with the juices up to a day before and keep in the fridge, then just reheat in a lidded pan with a splash of water mixed in, or in a foil baking tray, before serving. Serve with any plain grain you fancy, or even crushed boiled potatoes, sprinkling over the reserved herbs

BRAISED LAMB SHANKS WITH LEMON

Steps:

• Put oil in a large, deep skillet or casserole that can be covered later, and turn heat to medium-high. Add shanks, sprinkling them with salt and pepper. When pieces are deeply browned on one side, add thyme, garlic, onion, half the celery and half the carrots, and more salt and pepper to skillet. Continue to brown, stirring occasionally.
• Add wine, and let mixture bubble for about a minute; cover and adjust heat so that mixture simmers steadily. Cook for about an hour.
• Add remaining vegetables to pan; zest lemon, and add zest as well. Continue to cook until lamb is very tender and vegetables soft, another 30 to 45 minutes. (You can prepare dish up to this point in advance; let sit for a few hours, or cover and refrigerate for up to a day before reheating and proceeding.)
• When lamb is done, juice lemon, and add juice to sauce. Taste, adjust seasoning, and serve, garnished with parsley.

BRAISED LAMB WITH PRESERVED LEMON

Steps:

• Heat oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, cumin and onion, and cook 4 minutes, until limp.
• Add lamb and cook 5 minutes, until browned on all sides.
• Add preserved lemon, mint, bay leaves, cinnamon and beef stock; cover and simmer 40 minutes.
• Add eggplant and simmer another 10 minutes. Serve over couscous, with a dollop of yogurt on top of each serving.