Slow-braised lamb shoulder with feta, lemon and herbs

Melt in your mouth lamb

Serves

6 - 8

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

4 mins

Simple and easy, this lamb shoulder recipe lets the oven do all the hard work. The result? Beyond delicious.

It does sound like a lot of garlic but bare in mind, the garlic becomes sweet when roasted and is the perfect accompaniment to the tender slow cooked lamb. Rosemary and oregano are classic herb combos here - raid your garden or your neighbours if you need.

All that's needed to finish this off is some starchy vegetables just as roast potatoes to soak up the sauce; and a pile of greens to balance this feast.

Olivia Moore

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Ingredients

2kg Quality Mark lamb shoulder
on the bone
12 garlic cloves
8 sprigs fresh rosemary
broken into 3cm pieces
1 large onion
cut into 6 wedges
2 bay leaves
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup white wine
¼ cup lemon juice
plus extra to finish
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp honey
runny
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
75g feta
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Method

Preheat oven to 220°C fan-forced/240°C standard.

Use a small knife to make deep incisions all over the lamb. Cut 3-4 garlic cloves into slivers. Stuff the garlic slivers and the pieces of rosemary into the incisions.

Place the onion, bay leaves, oregano, remaining garlic cloves and remaining rosemary into the base of a large roasting pan. Set the lamb on top, and pour around the chicken stock, wine and lemon juice.

Drizzle the lamb with the honey and 2 Tbsp of the oil, and sprinkle over the paprika, salt and pepper. Rub all over to coat the lamb. Cover with a tight-fitting lid, or a double layer of tin foil. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 160°C fan-forced/180°C standard. Cook for 3 hours.

Remove the lamb from the oven and increase the temperature to 220°C fan-forced/240°C standard. Remove the lid or foil and add a little water if needed to so the lamb is sitting in about 3cm of liquid. Crumble the feta over the top of the lamb. Drizzle with the remaining 1 Tbsp oil. Place the lamb back in the oven, uncovered, for a further 20 minutes until the skin is nicely browned. Check for doneness - you should be able to shred the meat with forks. If not, you can place back in the oven at 160°C fan-forced/180°C standard until done.

Remove from the oven and cover loosely with foil. Let the lamb rest for 30 minutes.

If necessary, reheat when ready to eat, and finish with the parsley and a little lemon juice. Serve with your favourite sides.