15 Hour Lamb

• portions: Serves 8

Ingrédients

This is a fabulous dinner party dish, really easy to put together the day before and then serve on the night. You can serve it anyway you wish, but I love the idea of serving it like a deconstructed scotch broth with a pearl barley risotto, and it worked really well.

2 ¼ kg lamb shoulder

1 tablespoon toasted coriander seeds, 1 tsp flakey salt, 6 garlic cloves, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp allspice, and 2 teaspoons of dried thyme

Crush the coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle, add the salt and keep crushing, then add the garlic and mix to a pulp. Add all the spices and the thyme with a drizzle of olive oil and mix till a paste. Scor the lamb on the fatty side with a knife in cross hatch pattern then rub the marinade all over, resting it on the bed of fresh rosemary and fresh thyme before covering with greaseproof paper and a double layer of foil. Roast in the oven at 160° fan for 4 hours without touching.

Once it’s cooked, remove the bones and any fatty bits. You can then shred all the meat with a couple of forks and press into a lined small roasting tin. Drain the juices & remove the fat then mix half of the juices through the shredded lamb cover with greaseproof paper and weight heavily with another roasting tray filled with tins and then put some heavy books on the top. Put in the fridge overnight.

Remove the lamb from the tray, cut the edges off (these can be used to make a crispy lamb salad) and cut into portions. Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the lamb quickly creating a crispy edge, turn and repeat. Remove carefully, the crispy edges will hold it together but it will be meltingly tender within and can easily fall apart. Serve with the jus poured over.