Slow cooked lamb, deeply flavoured sweet and sour with pomegranate. A brilliant element of a multi-part feast of salads served with plenty of pitta or fluffy Turkish flatbread to mop up the juices.
- 650g boned lamb shoulder
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 80ml water
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 heaped tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Salt and pepper
- Pre-heat oven to 140C fan (160C)
- Put the lamb into a small roasting tin
- Mix all the other ingredients together and pour over the lamb, rubbing into every crevice
- Cover with foil and put in the oven for 2 hours, checking after an hour that it’s not dry
- Take the foil off and bake for a further hour
- Drain off the cooking juices and oil into a glass jug or bowl, leaving the lamb to rest in the pan
- Pour off the oil or use a baster to remove as much of it as possible
- Then tip the deep brown cooking juices into a saucepan and bubble over a high heat to reduce to a syrupy glaze before pouring back over the lamb to serve
Serve whole or pre-shredded, either way its double-delicious served with a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds, finely shredded mint leaves and roughly chopped toasted pistachio seeds
Sophie cooks 