You could smell it before you walked through the door. Neighbors gingerly peaked into our windows, their noses wrinkled and their stomachs grumbling. What had triggered their olfaction was the pitter-patter timpani of lamb fat tapping the bottom of a roaster. The smells of caraway and coriander mingled with cumin and cardamom, hanging thick in the air. Flecks of slow roasting lemon zest sizzled on the fall off the bone meat: it was an ambrosial atmosphere. The dish? A slow roasted lamb with middle eastern influences that’s deceptively easy, and decidedly delicious.

Without further ado, here’s what you’ll need:

Equipment:

• A large roasting pan, we’re especially fond of our stainless steel Cuisinart roaster. I used it, and it’s on sale!
• A juicer would be quite useful. We’re going to push through a lot of lemons here. I like our Cuisinart electric; it’s small and has a fantastic price point.
• A mortal and pestle
• Stainless bowls for mise en placealways make my life easier.
• A basting brush
• A baster

Ingredients (I always like to start my ingredients from seeds, when you grind them yourself the flavor is always much stronger):

• 5-7 pounds of bone in lamb shoulder. For reference, mine was seven pounds.
• Six cloves of garlic finely minced (or more, for your preference)
• A few hearty grinds of pepper
• Two tablespoons of kosher salt
• A tablespoon of ground coriander
• A tablespoon of ground caraway
• A tablespoon of ground cumin
• Three tablespoons of hot paprika
• The juice of 3-4 large lemons
• ⅓ cup of olive oil

Instructions:

1. This recipe is best when it’s been marinated overnight. We’re going to begin by making a paste that we are going to brush over the lamb shoulder. The acids from the lemons will work their wonders on the meat while the salts and flavors work their way in. To begin: let’s make our marinade. It’s going to be paste-like and slathered over the lamb shoulder. I marinated mine in the roaster with a plastic wrap cover.
2. Prepare all of your ingredients in separate bowls. I’ve already recommended our Stainless bowls, but these pinch bowls are great.
3. Add garlic, coriander, pepper, salt, carraway, cumin, and hot paprika to a large mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients while dry. Add lemon juice and continue to mix. Add olive oil and mix until combined

1. Using a basting brush, brush both sides of the meat with the marinade.
2. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
3. Next day, set the oven to 330.
4. Wrap the lamb in aluminum foil and position the fat side up in the roasting rack.
5. Pour enough water to create a thin layer of water at the bottom of your roaster, underneath the rack. No more than 2-3 cups.
6. Roast for 3-3.5 hours. Each hour, remove the lamb from the oven and baste with drippings.
7. Remove lamb from the oven, first checking to see if it is fork-tender. If so, baste one more time, and turn the broiler on high. I like to remove the drippings at this point so that I avoid excess humidity when I broil the lamb to form a crust.
8. Broil 5 or so minutes, turning once. Remove when a crust has formed.

And you're done! This is now the hardest part: let your lamb rest a half hour, its juices will settle and the flavor will be absolutely marvelous.

As always, don’t hesitate to write if you have questions.

Yours,

Gigi <3