Last night's dinner was, if I do say so myself, a rather spectacular success. It's such a great feeling when things go really well in the kitchen, isn't it?! Such great pay-off...delicious food, full tummies and a general feeling of contentment!
I'd bought a small shoulder of lamb (bone in - New Zealand lamb. I have no qualms buying NZ lamb because A. All NZ sheep are entirely free-range and pasture fed, and B. I know for a fact that the food miles argument is inherently flawed when it comes to NZ food produce. So it was a happy discovery to find NZ lamb on special at Sainsbury's this week!) and wasn't sure what to do with it. I've never bought lamb shoulder before, but I fancied a challenge.
After a chat with mum, I decided slow-cooking was the best path to take. I made a spice paste (garlic, ginger, chilli, oil, toasted whole coriander and cumin seeds, smoked paprika, garam masala, tomato puree and salt), massaged the meat with it, threw it in my large Le Creuset with about 1 tbsp water and stuck it in the oven at 150degC for 3 and a half hours. It was, quite simply, wonderful. Meltingly tender and soft, with just the right amount of spice. I served it with some cooked vege and homemade naan breads and that was it - sort of a vaguely Indian-take on Mexican fajitas I suppose. Really delish.
And the extra bonus is that, today (after teaching decidedly apathetic undergrads for 6 hours) I can turn the rest of the lamb into a Thai massuman curry in about 5 mins flat! All I need now to make tonight perfect is a nice cold beer...bliss.
Oh, and hey - Happy Waitangi Day (NZ national day) on Saturday!
Glad the lamb worked out well. Shoulder is always tends to be a sweet meat though it can sometimes be a bit fatty. I will have to try your spicy rub the next time I put one in the slow cooker.
ReplyDeleteThe fat all ran out...rather a scary looking amount actually - it came a third of the way up the Le Creuset by the time it was done! But I figured that's a whole lot of fat that we then didn't have to eat and it just basted the meat itself :-)
ReplyDeleteThe spicy rub was quite good because I think the spice (which wasn't really hot) helped to cut through the richness of the meat.