With it being Passover / Easter and whatnot I thought I’d include a recipe for lamb. When you insert slivers of garlic into lamb it tastes out of this world – the flavour gets right into the meat instead of just coating the outside or flavouring the sauce.

Roast Lamb

Ingredients

• 1 1.6kg lamb forequarter rolled roast
• 3 garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
• Salt & ground black pepper
• 50g (2 1/2 tbs) butter
• 2 red onions, halved, sliced
• 1 carrot, peeled, diced
• 1 celery stick, diced
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 250g large mushroom flats, sliced
• 125mls (1/2 cup) dry red wine

Method

1. Use a small sharp knife to make small incisions in lamb and insert garlic slivers. Rub lamb all over with salt and pepper. Heat 20g (1 tbs) of the butter in a large heavy-based, flameproof casserole dish over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrot, celery, rosemary and thyme. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes or until vegetables soften. Remove from heat.
2. Meanwhile, heat 10g (2 tsp) of remaining butter in a large heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes or until soft and lightly browned. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Melt remaining butter in same frying pan over high heat. Add lamb and cook, turning occasionally, for 8-10 minutes or until well browned all over. It is easiest to turn lamb using 2 pairs of tongs. Remove from frying pan and place on top of vegetables in casserole dish.
4. Add wine to frying pan and bring to the boil over high heat. Boil, scraping base of pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge any residue, for 1 minute. Pour wine mixture into casserole dish. Cover casserole dish and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low (move casserole dish to a smaller hot plate if possible) and cook, covered, turning lamb 2-3 times during cooking, for 1 1/2 hours. As you turn lamb, also check level of liquid. If lamb or vegetables are beginning to stick, add a little water to the dish. Add only enough water (3-4 tbs) to prevent sticking. Add cooked mushrooms, cover and cook, turning lamb once, for a further 30 minutes.
5. The lamb is ready when it can be easily pierced with a carving fork. Transfer lamb to a chopping board ready for carving. Cover with foil to keep warm. Remove stems of rosemary and thyme from dish. If sauce is too thin, return dish to high heat and boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10-20 minutes or until sauce reduces and thickens.
6. Tilt dish and use a large shallow spoon to skim excess fat from surface. Serve carved lamb and vegetables with sauce drizzled over.

Variations

For Moroccan-style lamb pot roast don’t include the rosemary, thyme and mushrooms. Replace the red wine with red wine vinegar. Add 1 stick cinnamon,1 tsp each of paprika, ground ginger and ground cumin, and 2 tbs finely chopped fresh coriander roots and stems to softened vegetables, and cook for a further 1 minute. Add 200g pitted prunes and 300g sweet potato (kumara), peeled and chopped, to pot roast after 1 1/2 hours of cooking. Just before skimming fat from surface of sauce, stir in 35g (1/4 cup) toasted slivered almonds, 2 tbs fresh coriander leaves and 1 tsp of finely grated lemon rind.