Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Vegetables

This is the type of dish my Nonna or my mother would have made years ago. A cheap cut of meat mixed with all sorts of vegetables, garlic, herbs and spices, left to cook away while other jobs were done.  This is an easy, one pan recipe that always delivers.

Lamb shoulder is one of my favorite cuts as it incredibly moist and tender and very forgiving to cook. It won’t dry out like other cuts of meat can. You can buy boneless lamb shoulder in one piece, then chop it up into large chunks. Otherwise, just cut the meat away from the bone, or ask a butcher to de-bone for you.

Packed with goodness, this is a one pan meal.  There’s no need for precise chopping, this is meant to be rough and chunky.

This is one of those dishes you can ad lib and change depending on what you’ve got – that’s how this dish would have originated. It’s generous, wholesome one pan cooking at it’s very best that you can modify to suit as many people as you need to feed. The whole garlic cloves will be sweet and tender after cooking in their skins, ready to be smeared over the meat while you eat.

Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Vegetables

A simple one-pan recipe with tender roast lamb and vegetables.

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Servings: 2

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1.2 - 1.5 kg boneless lamb shoulder
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• ½ Butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into chunks
• 3 large tomatoes, cut into chunks
• 2 brown onions, skin on, cut into wedges
• 8 cloves of garlic, skin on
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 2 red capsicums, seeded and cut into chunks
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 125 ml olive oil
• juice from 1 lemon

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 170°C .
2. Cut the lamb into rough 8 cm chunks.
3. Place the lamb, potatoes, pumpkin, tomatoes, onions, garlic, fennel seeds, cumin, oregano, rosemary and capsicum into a large roasting dish lined with baking paper. Season well with salt and pepper, generously douse everything in olive oil, and squeeze over the lemon juice. Toss everything with your hands to coat.
4. Bake for 45 minutes, tossing around every now and then to keep everything moist, until vegetables are tender and meat is golden.

Recipe from my book – Food for Sharing Italian Style, New Holland Publishers, Photo – Jonathan VDK