Slow-Roasted Shoulder of Lamb

I've been using the slow-cooker a lot more these days, and with the temperatures dropping have also started using the oven more to slow-roast different meats. It's a handy way of warming the flat when I don't want to have the radiators on as well.

Of course, I am also aware that the tougher cuts of meat that do well with slow-cooking cost a lot less than other more popular roasting joints.

One good example here is the shoulder of lamb. This cut is not just cheaper, it is also more

Cuts of lamb

forgiving for new cooks and easier to cook than the leaner leg. You'd have to really go out of your way to overcook a shoulder, making it an ultimate bung it in the oven and forget about it roast.

You  can buy the shoulder with bone in, or filleted out and rolled. Just ask your butcher to do this if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself. Personally, I prefer roasting with the bone in as that bone helps to flavour the meat. It is easier to carve however without the shoulder blade and other bones in the way.

Once boned, you can add different herbs or spices and other flavours into the center before rolling it up and roasting. It can also be cut into cubes for slow-cooking in a stew or other dish.

I buy mine with the bone in though, and leave it that way for roasting. True, it is not easily carved, but as it's just my sons and me none of us are all that fussed about perfection on a plate.

Shoulder of lamb

The shoulder is a flattish cut with the scapula, some of the ribs and possibly a part of the forearm. It has a thin layer of fat over the top and more marbled throughout. Slow-roasting allows all of those flavours to permeate through the meat.

A 1.8kg shoulder provided plenty of meat for myself and two teenage sons with a bit leftover.

I have now cooked this particular dish a few times and it is always a hit.


You will need:

• 1 shoulder of lamb
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• 2 medium onion
• 4 - 6 cloves garlic
• fresh rosemary
• fresh thyme

Method:

1. Preheat the oven as hot as it will go with one rack in the middle of the oven.
2. Use a sharp knife to score the layer of fat and cut pockets of about 1 cm depth across the top of the shoulder. 
3. Cut the two onions in half around the equator (don't worry about peeling) and place cut side up in a roasting pan. Add half the fresh rosemary and thyme and half the crushed garlic cloves. 
4. Cut the remaining garlic cloves into thin pieces and push those into each of the pockets along with 2 - 3 rosemary leaves and a bit of thyme. 
5. Transfer the lamb into the roasting pan on top of the onions. Cover with any remaining fresh herbs, season generously with salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil over the top. 
6. Pour about 1 cup water into the pan, cover tightly with foil. 
7. Turn the oven down to a moderate heat, about 300f/150c/gas mark 2.
8. Place the roasting pan in the oven and leave it for at least 3 hours, or more. I like to give it about 4 hours myself. 
9. In the final hour, remove the foil and strain off any excess liquid into a pan. This will be used to make a meat broth gravy. Return the now uncovered roast to the oven to cook another 45 minutes. 
10. Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the roast onto a serving platter. Cover with foil and leave to rest 10 - 15 minutes. 

Serve this with a seasonal vegetable and roast potatoes or other root vegetables.

You can pour some of the gravy over the top, or drizzle a spoonful or three of mint sauce.

Mint Sauce:

• 1 handful fresh peppermint
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup malt vinegar

1. Very finely chop the mint leaves, sprinkle about half the sugar over the leaves once chopped and continue finely chopping as this will help to pull out the oils. 
2. Transfer to a small glass, add the remaining sugar and pour over the malt vinegar. Give it a quick stir then, and again before spooning out. 

Delicious Roast Duck

In the weeks before the Yule celebrations, I asked my sons what they would like to have for dinner the night of the Solstice. We knew we were having turkey on Christmas Day, but decided we wanted something different for our own meal.

After a bit of discussion, we decided we were going to have a roast duck. Now duck, as you know, is a rather fatty meat, so you can't just stick it in the oven and forget it the way you can a chicken.EVen so, I was pleasantly surprised at what a delicious roast dinner could be made for not a lot of effort.

I think our duck turned out rather well.

 

Roast duck with duck-fat roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes

To start - preheat your oven to 200c/400f/about Gas Mark 6

The roasting tin

Roasting tray with cooling rack

Because a duck has a lot of fat underneath the skin, you need to be prepared for that before even putting it into the oven. It is recommended that you use a roasting tin with a rack to hold the duck up off the bottom of the pan. 

I don't happen to have a roasting rack, but I do have a wide roasting tray, and a metal cooling rack that just happens to fit perfectly inside. This was ideal for roasting our duck. (I've also used this method for cooking sausages in the oven)

 Preparing the duck

Skin has been pierced with skewer

The next step is to make sure most of the fat underneath the skin can get out. What you don't want is a lot of pressure building up from boiling hot fat under the skin.

To do this, simply poke lots and lots of holes in the skin over the entire surface of the duck. I use a metal skewer for this job, but a small knife would also work.

After this, sprinkle a bit of salt and some ground black pepper over the top, and put it in the oven. I don't cover the duck while roasting, but if I thought it was getting too brown could cover it over with foil.

Roasting time

Very handily, duck takes the same roasting time as other meats. 25 minutes per pound, or per 500 gram, plus 25 minutes. If you prefer duck meat a little rarer, make it 20 minutes per pound/gram plus 20 minutes.

Ozeri The Epicurean LED Kitchen Scale

Don't forget to check the weight! If it isn't printed on the packaging,  you can weight it on your kitchen scales.If you don't have a set of kitchen scales, get one. I find that when it comes to getting dry ingredients exact for recipes, a set of scales is much more accurate than measuring cups.

I have both a digital scale and a basic mechanical scale, but tend to use the digital scale more.

While the duck is cooking

Our duck weighed 2.1kg, or about 4.6 pounds, giving me a total roasting time of 125 minutes. (2 hours, give or take)

Because a lot of fat can come out of the duck, you will need to check it about every 30 minutes and drain any accumulated fat out of the tray. Otherwise it will get very hot and begin spitting all over your oven, and possibly on you when you open the door.

I drain the fat by picking the duck up using a large carving fork, then pouring the fat into a waiting bowl. Duck fat is ideal for roasting vegetables, so don't let it go to waste! Keep it in your fridge for roasting root vegetables.

I poured about 2 tablespoons of the fat onto my roasting tray with the quartered potatoes and a roughly cut up sweet potato. This then went into the oven to cook the final 45 minutes.

You'll know the duck is cooked when the juices run clear. After 1:45 minutes, check by pushing a skewer into the meaty portion of a leg or into the breast. If the juices are clear, then the duck is cooked. If they aren't clear, let it cook in the oven another 15 minutes and check it again.

The Giblets

Sometimes duck comes with the giblets tucked up inside the body cavity. No one is ever really quite sure what to do with these, since very few people actually like the liver, heart, and other bits.

I like to place these in a pan of simmering water and cook them for about 30 minutes. The resulting stock can be used to make a gravy, or can be added to a stuffing mix.

Most of the time, I cheat and get my stuffing out of a box. Just replace the required boiling water with boiling stock for a change of flavour. And while you're at it, dice up the cooked giblets and add those to the stuffing as well. This can either be cooked separately in a casserole dish, or can be stuffed into the duck's cavity.

To go with our roast duck dinner, I made roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes, and cooked carrots and green beans to go on the side.

A tart cranberry sauce or an orange sauce would go nicely on the side as well. 

What about leftovers?

This particular duck could easily feed a family of 4, with leftovers for a soup.

I'm feeding a family of 3, so have a bit more in leftovers. But I do love making a soup.

I made a very simple Asian-themed soup using the leftovers from our duck.

Duck Soup 

To start, place the duck carcass and any leftover meat into a large pot along with a quartered onion, a carrot (break it in half), and a couple smasked garlic cloves.  Add a couple bay leaves, a few peppercorns, and a large pinch of salt then cover it over with water.

Bring that up to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and allow it to simmer for as long as you can. The longer the better here to pull as much goodness and flavour out of the bones. I simmered this particular duck for about 5 hours. The resulting stock could have been a satisfying meal all on it's own.

Once it's simmered long enough, take it off the heat and leave it to sit until it has cooled. If you have time, let it sit in the fridge overnight. The next day, if you wish, you can remove any solidified fat from the top. Just stick that in your bowl of reserved duck fat.

Strain the stock, and pull as much meat as possible off the bones. Discard the bones and cooked vegetables. Add the meat back to the stock and bring it back up to a simmer.

Add soya sauce, tasting after each addition until you get the right level of flavour that you want. I use a low sodium soya sauce so had to add quite a bit.

Add in some shredded cabbage, leek, kale, or other leafy green vegetables. Cook another few minutes.

Add in a packet of Chinese rice noodles. Stir and leave to simmer another few minutes.

Taste for seasoning, adding a bit more soya sauce and some black pepper if needed.

Serve hot in deep bowls.

Countdown to Cooking a Holiday Feast

My not-so secret method of getting Christmas dinner on the table, on time. 

Roast chicken and chipolata sausages

I think that one of the most daunting aspects of putting together a festive feat is working out how to get everything on the table at the same time, without making your dinner guests wait for hours.

Cooking a roast dinner each weekend has given me a bit of practice in timings, but when it comes to cooking a major feast for more than just the family, I start out by making a written list of what needs to go in to cook when. This helps me to keep on track, and makes sure I don't forget to cook the veggies.

These are the components of a typical roast turkey dinner when I cook it.

• Turkey
• Stuffing
• Roast potatoes
• Roast parsnips
• Chipolata sausages
• Bacon and mushroom rolls
• Stock gravy
• Bread sauce
• 2 green vegetables
• 2 desserts (British tradition says one of these should be a Christmas pudding)

Tip 1 Prepare everything that can be done in advance the day before. Peel potatoes and put them in cold water, prep your vegetables and put them in cold water as well. Make pies and cakes that are served cold. Most stuffings can also be made in advance and kept wrapped in cling film or covered with foil in the fridge.

Making a list

When making a list, start at the end and work backwards. You can always rewrite it in the correct direction.

A sample plan

2:00 - serve dinner

1:50 - put food into serving dishes to go onto the table

1:45 - put serving dishes in the bottom of the oven to be heated


1:35 - put vegetables on to steam or boil; move bacon rolls to the bottom of the oven if they're cooked
Make gravy and bread sauce

1:30 - remove turkey and sausages from oven. Place on or in warmed serving dish and cover over with foil to keep warm. 

The roasted joint or turkey ideally should rest about 20 - 30 minutes. Check the weight of the meat with any stuffing to determine the total cooking time. My general rule is 20 - 25 minutes per 500 grams (or per pound) + an extra 25 minutes. So a 10 pound turkey would need 25 minutes X 10 + 25, or 275 minutes, divide by 60 = 4.5 hours. This means it needs to go into the oven by 9:00am

Drain off stock for gravy.

Turn potatoes, parsnips, and bacon rolls.

1:10 - potatoes and pasnips go into the oven for roasting
Bacon rolls go into the oven to cook.

1:00 - place fat for roasting potatoes and other root vegetables into oven. Remember to parboil potatoes. 


12:45 - add chipolata sausages to roasting pan around turkey.  

12:30 - remove foil from turkey, baste it with the surrounding fat; Place pan of potatoes on heat to parboil. Drain as soon as they come up to boil.

Put the Christmas pudding on to steam as directed on the Delia website (2 1/4 hours. Timing from now will mean it is ready to eat by 2:45 or 3, giving you plenty of time to eat your dinner. 

To cook, fill a saucepan quite full with boiling water, put it on the heat and, when it comes back to the boil, place a steamer on top of the pan and turn it down to a gentle simmer. Put the Christmas pudding in the steamer, cover and leave to steam away for 2¼ hours.

You'll need to check the water from time to time and maybe top it up a bit.

10:00 - Infuse milk for bread sauce (recipe below)

9:00 - turkey into oven. The oven will need to be preheated for at least 20 minutes. You will want to remove the foil the final hour of cooking so the skin can brown.

8:40 - adjust oven racks and turn on oven to desired temperature.


Tip 2 - the temperature in the oven will vary depending upon the level. The upper 3rd will be about 1 gas mark higher (+25f) than the temperature set, while the lower 3rd will be about 1 gas mark lower (-25f). Use this to your advantage when adjusting the racks. Because I don't have anything on the floor of my oven I will use this space as well sometimes.

8:30 - Prep the turkey by adding the stuffing and pushing butter up under the skin if desired. Place in a large roasting pan and cover with foil. Some recipes suggest adding a bit of water to the pan. If you're wanting to get some stock for gravy from the pan, go ahead and do this. My own experience is that you can generally get a lot of fluid from a bird, (sometimes because of water injected into it before purchase unless you have an organically reared turkey) so adding water isn't necessary. I will also add a bit of chicken fat or lard to the pan to give me something to cook sausages in later.