Roast Shoulder of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary with Redcurrant and Mint Sauce

2 hours - 2 hours 15 minutes

Serves 6

This recipe is from Delia Smith's Guide To Meat Cookery.

Shoulder of lamb provides the very sweetest meat of all for roasting.

Although there is more fat, its presence, which is conveniently interspersed between layers of meat, could not have been better designed for cooking purposes. This is because as the heat penetrates it, the fat slowly begins to melt, providing a kind of internal basting process - so that by the time the shoulder is cooked, the fat will have all run out, leaving the meat tender, juicy and succulent.

The Delia Online Cookery School: Watch how to make Perfect Roast Potatoes in our video. Press the recipe image to play.

The Delia Online Cookery School: Watch how to make Perfect Roast Potatoes in our video. Press here to play.

Lamb
, Sunday roast

Got a question on Delia's recipes? Ask Lindsey

Ask a Question

Method

First of all, peel the garlic cloves and slice each one into about 8 pieces, then divide the rosemary into about 16 tiny sprigs.

Now, using a small, sharp knife, make 8 little slits into the underside of the lamb and into each slit, push a sliver of garlic and a little sprig of rosemary, then do the same thing on the top side of the lamb. Place the joint into a roasting tin, sprinkle the surface with the sea salt and place it in the oven. After 30 minutes' cooking time, reduce the oven temperature to gas mark 4, 350F, 180C and leave the meat to cook for 1½-1¾ hours, basting the surface of the meat halfway through.

When the cooking time is up, remove the meat to a warm serving plate and leave it to relax for 20 minutes before carving. Then spoon off the surplus fat from the roasting tin, pour the wine in and, using a wooden spoon, scrape all the meat and crusty bits from the sides and base of the tin, letting the wine bubble and reduce to about two-thirds of its original volume. Add some pepper and salt and pour it into a warm serving jug. Then carve the meat, adding a little of the wine-and-meat juices to each portion, and hand the remaining sauce around separately.

To make the sauce:
All you do is place the redcurrant jelly and wine vinegar in a sacuepan, whisk thoroughly, bringing the mixture up to simmering point and making sure the jelly is dissolved. Then remove it from the heat, add the chopped mint and some seasoning and pour it into a serving bowl or jug.