Slow-Cooked Lamb with Puy Lentils There is very little work involved with this dish and you can leave it to cook in the oven while you get on with other things. The result is the most succulent, melt-in-the-mouth lamb you will ever taste. It is an ideal dish to serve if you are not good at carving as the meat comes away from the bone easily, ready to be spooned onto plates. 1.5-1.8kg Waitrose Farm Assured Whole Shoulder of Lamb (British or Welsh) 1 medium onion, sliced 3 cloves garlic, chopped 2 tsp dried oregano Juice of 1 lemon 2 tbsp olive oil 300ml red or white wine 175g Merchant Gourmet Puy Lentils 50g Organic Sun Ripened Tomatoes (from the Deli Counter) 1 pack fresh mint Preheat the oven to 220°C, gas mark 7. Season the lamb all over with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Scatter the onion over the base of a flameproof casserole large enough to hold the lamb, then place the lamb on top. Sprinkle with the garlic, oregano, lemon juice, olive oil and wine.

Season again and cover tightly with foil. Place the casserole in the oven and cook for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 170°C, gas mark 3. Cook for a further 3 hours, until the lamb is well cooked and beginning to come away from the bone. After about 2 ½ hours of the cooking time, place the lentils in a pan and cover with 1 litre of cold water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until just tender. Remove the lamb from the oven, take off the foil and mix the lentils, tomatoes and mint into the juices around the meat. Cover with the foil again and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes. Transfer the lamb to a large plate and pull the meat apart with a fork and spoon. Serve with the lentil mixture spooned around the meat. Note: Wash hands, equipment and work surfaces thoroughly after handling raw meat. Click to rate this recipe. Typical values per serving: 11.5% fat per serving Click here for more information about health and nutrition

This recipe was first published in September 2003.A few weeks ago I was asked to make lunch for Leonard Nimoy. And a bunch of guys from Twilight and Battlestar Galactica (!!) and Erin Gray from Buck Rogers.) That’s another story — but it is the reason I found myself making roast leg of lamb recently. (If I’m going to make lunch, I told the guys, let me make something more interesting-and delicious-than soup and sandwiches.) And honestly, leg of lamb in the slow cooker is about as easy as it gets. This is high reward for minimum effort food … people will think you’re a fabulous cook when you really didn’t do much. To make a really earth-shattering meal – when you want to win friends and influence people – serve it with garlicky tzatziki and homemade naan. The thing that makes cooking a whole leg of lamb awkward is its shape more than its size; done in the oven, it’s tough to get both the thick, meaty end and the thin, tapered end cooked to the same doneness.

When the thick part is done, the thin part tends to be overdone; when the thin part is perfect, the thick part isn’t cooked through yet. But it is a magnificent, flavorful piece of meat, and shouldn’t be shunned for its less than ideal shape. Fortunately, a slow cooker solves the dilemma. best wine bar hanoiThe long, low cooking time breaks down the tough connective tissues in a leg of lamb, making it fall-off-the-bone tender, without turning it to mush.best wine bar wanchai To add flavor, I like to give meat a quick turn in a hot pan to brown the outside before tossing it into the slow cooker. best wine bar in hkSometimes this is difficult with a long leg of lamb; some of the best sweet red wine

when I have a bone that makes it impossible to lay the piece of meat into a skillet, I brown it quickly on the grill. Browning meat adds flavor; if you like, pour whatever liquid you plan to use in the slow cooker into the pan to loosen all those flavourful browned bits – give it a swirl and then pour into the slow cooker. what is the best red wine ever madeBrowning your veg will boost flavor too.wine in grocery stores rutherford county tn You can also toss a couple handfuls of new potatoes or diced thin-skinned Yukon gold potatoes (don’t peel them) into the bottom of the slow cooker first; they’ll cook in the lamb juices, winding up dark and sticky. (Add a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of oregano as you scoop them out if you’re a fan of Greek lemon potatoes.) Lay your lamb leg overtop;

add rosemary and garlic and a few glugs of red wine or stock. This would be a great way to do smaller lamb shanks too. If the bone is sticking out of the slow cooker, lay foil over the top and crimp it around the open edges, sealing those gaps. Rub the oil all over the lamb and either brown it in a hot pan or throw it on the grill to get some colour. Meanwhile, toss all the potatoes and about half the garlic cloves into the bottom of your slow cooker. Put the lamb on top of the potatoes, squish a few more cloves of garlic and rub it over the surface, then sprinkle with salt. Toss in a few sprigs of rosemary and pour some wine in around the potatoes, cover (if the bone sticks out, cover the lid with foil to seal in the heat) and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Carve the lamb and serve with the potatoes, finished with a squeeze of lemon, if you like.First posted: Jul 20, 2010 Roast Lamb in Red Wine to write home about So we all agree that in winter there is not much that beats a nice home-cooked roast lamb.

(If you don’t then we can’t possibly be friends).  And given my penchant for all things wintery and roasted, it is only fitting that I investigate further the variations on this noble dish. So enter Aunty Sue. She is Rob’s (blonde, gorgeous, wild and hysterically funny) Aunt who lives on a stunning little farm outside Stellenbosch. And she’s a Silwood-trained chef. Yip, you bet we don’t need our arms twisted even a little bit when we crack the nod to a ‘Sunday lunch on the farm’. Sue is often admirably accompanied in the kitchen by Chris – her wise, unassuming, more pensive other half. Wine typically flows freely in their household, and good times are guaranteed for all. In my eagerness whilst observing the preparation of the lamb when we were there recently, I actually forgot to write down the details, and sadly we had to tear ourselves away before it was actually served (imagine my agony) So in light of this, it should be said that any deliciousness should most certainly be attributed to Sue and Chris, and any recipe ‘issues’ you can blame on me.

Anyway, having missed out the first time round, it made us all the more excited to get stuck in and give it a bash when Rob and I were in the Cederberg recently. There was no electricity in the cottage, so we had to cook this on a weber over the coals (don’t panic city slickers it works just as well in an oven). What a great way to spend a winter Saturday afternoon in the mountains, reading a book in the sun while the aroma of lamb roasting in red wine wafts merrily about. 1. Pre-heat oven to 120C 2. Place lamb in the dish and scatter over the onion, tomato and rosemary. Make a couple of small incisions in the lamb and stuff with the garlic and pour over the red wine as well as a generous sprinkle of salt (1 tsp) and freshly ground black pepper (2 tsp) 3. Cover the dish with two layers of tinfoil and put the lid on. Place in the oven and cook for about 3 hours at 120C 4. Remove after 3 hours to check if you need to add in a little water or stock for extra liquid