Slow-cooked lamb and potatoes

Fall-apart lamb nestled in a bed of lemony potatoes is what Sunday roast looks like at my place. This recipe is ridiculously easy – just keep the roasting tin sealed very tightly and you are guaranteed juicy, melt-in-your-mouth meat bathed in a light lemony sauce. Shoulder is my preferred cut of lamb for slow cooking because the collagen and fat slowly melt away in the oven, resulting in richly flavoured, tender meat.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  6-8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  3:30 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

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episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

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Ingredients

• 2.5 kg lamb shoulder, bone-in (see Note)
• 5 cloves garlic, thickly sliced
• ¼ cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp sea salt flakes
• Black pepper
• 2 cups (500 ml) gluten-free chicken stock
• 1 lemon, juiced, plus wedges to serve
• 6 waxy Désirée potatoes, cut into thick wedges

For the tzatziki

• 1 Lebanese cucumber, deseeded
• 1 tsp sea salt flakes
• 300 g thick Greek yoghurt (see Note)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp finely chopped dill fronds

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan-forced).
   
2. Place the lamb in a large baking dish. Using a small, sharp knife, make multiple small incisions into the lamb, then fill the incisions with the sliced garlic. Drizzle the lamb with the oil and sprinkle with the rosemary, oregano, salt and a generous pinch of black pepper, firmly massaging the seasoning all over the lamb.
   
3. Pour the chicken stock and lemon juice into the baking dish with the lamb, then cover tightly with foil and bake for 2 hours. Remove the foil, baste the lamb with the pan juices and add the potato wedges to the baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, then re-cover the dish with foil and bake for a further hour.
   
4. Increase the temperature to 200°C (fan-forced). Remove the foil, baste the lamb with the pan juices and roast, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes, or until the lamb is golden-brown.
   
5. While the lamb is roasting, make the tzatziki. Roughly grate the deseeded cucumber, then place into a small bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Firmly squeeze the cucumber over the sink to remove any excess moisture, then transfer to a medium bowl with the remaining tzatziki ingredients and mix well to combine.
   
6. Slice the lamb, then place onto a large serving platter with the potato wedges, lemon wedges and the tzatziki.
   

Note

• This might seem like a lot of lamb, but once you factor in the bone it’s only about 1.8 kg of meat. Strain thinner yoghurts if needed, to produce a richer tzatziki.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

The Five Star Dinner

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

G

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

G