Slow cooking for melt-in-your-mouth lamb

Hands-off cooking with Tim’s lamb shoulder and perfect for a Sunday lunch.

SERVES: 6
PREP TIME: 10 mins
COOKING TIME: 3 hrs hands-off slow-cooking
DIFFICULTY: easy
IDEAL FOR: crowd-pleaser, family, Sunday lunch, special occasion
BUDGET: ££

Browning the meat

Step 1: Use a heavy pot on your hob and add your well-seasoned meat to it with a little oil.

Then brown the meat on every side with a lovely deep golden brown colour.

Step 2: Remove the meat and set it aside so you can get on with the base flavours.

Base flavours

This part is building on flavours.

So, in the same casserole dish with the bits of brown stuck to the bottom, you now add veggies, hardy herbs (rosemary, thyme etc), spices or any flavours you want to play with.

But you should always go for the foundation veggies (mirepoix) such as:

  • Onions, leeks or shallots
  • Carrots
  • Celery
  • Garlic

Add in your mirepoix (the first 3 above), and garlic (add a little more oil if needed).

Then any herbs or spices.

And cook for a few minutes until the veggies soften a little and the herbs/spices become fragrant.

Now it’s onto the braising liquid.

Braising liquid

This is how we get the brown bits off the bottom of your casserole dish aka deglazing.

Which add great flavour to your dish.

So, with a wooden spoon in hand, poor in any liquid such as wine, stock, beer, or even water.

And start scraping those lovely brown bits off the bottom of the dish to mix in with the liquid and veggies,

Now, place your seared meat back in the pan.

Then add enough other liquid (again, wine, stock, beer, water) so that the meat is partially, but not fully, submerged.

How much liquid you add depends on how you want to serve it—add more if you want a more liquid stewy dish.

Or less if you want a more concentrated sauce.

Et voila! Hands-off

You’ve done the ‘hard part’.

Now, cover the pot with a tightly-fitting lid and cook it in the oven at a low temperature— usually around 140C.

You can also cook it on the hob over the lowest possible heat.

Ultimately, the meat will tell you i.e. it’s done when it’s tender and ready to fall apart.

Tim’s lamb shoulder

Dauphinoise potatoes

The most decadent, delicious and luxurious potatoes you’ll ever make.

Plus, they’re not hard to do either.

This is a recipe from BBC Good Food and I think alongside Tim’s lamb shoulder makes for a really special Sunday lunch.

  • PREP TIME: 20 mins
  • COOK TIME: 45 mins

Ingredients

  • 500ml double cream
  • 500ml milk
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 8 large King Edward or Maris Piper potatoes
  • 100g grated gruyère cheese (optional)

Method

  1. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5.
  2. Tip 500ml double cream, 500ml milk and 3 garlic cloves into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer.
  3. Slice 8 large potatoes very finely, about 3-4mm, add them to the cream and simmer for 3 mins until just cooked.
  4. Gently stir to separate the potato and stop it sinking and catching on the bottom of the pan.
  5. Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon and place in a wide shallow ovenproof dish so that they are about 5cm in depth.
  6. Pour over the garlic-infused cream (discarding the garlic) – just enough to seep through the layers and leave a little moisture on the surface.
  7. Scatter over 100g grated gruyère cheese, if using, then bake for 30 mins until the potatoes are soft and browned – increase the heat for 5 mins if not brown enough.

For a Moroccan-spiced lamb shoulder, visit here.