Slow roast lamb recipe

Never stress over a roast lamb dinner again with this easy-to-prepare slow roast lamb recipe served with hot potatoes and a delicious fresh salsa verde. It's perfect for easy entertaining and makes a wonderful Easter centrepiece if you're looking for something easy but full of flavour. The flavours of honey, white wine and rosemary combine during the cooking process to make the most wonderful gravy, too.

Ingredients

For this Easter recipe

you will need:

• 4 tablespoons clear honey
• 300 ml/1/2 pint white wine
• 4 large bay leaves
• 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 12 garlic cloves, unpeeled, halved
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1.75 – 1.9 kg  whole shoulder of lamb
• 4 medium onions, each cut into 3 thick crossway slices
• 200ml lamb stock
• 800g  Maris piper potatoes, scrubbed, cut into 2 cm (3/4 inch) thick slices

For the salsa verde

:

• Small bunch fresh parsley, roughly chopped, about 6tbsp
• 2tbsp capers, drained, roughly chopped
• 4 canned anchovies, drained, roughly chopped
• 2tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Add 2 tablespoons of the honey to a large plastic bag, add the wine, bay, rosemary and garlic and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper and shake the bag to mix. Make small incisions with a knife at intervals over the lamb, add to the bag with the onions then seal the bag tightly and put the bag into a roasting tin. Chill for 3 hours or overnight in the fridge, turning the bag once or twice so that the honey mix flavours both side of the joint.
2. Take the lamb out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking so that it can come back to room temperature. Lift the bag out of the roasting tin, add the potatoes to the tin then the onions from the marinade, pour the honey mix over and arrange the lamb on top. Pour the stock into the tin, cover with foil and twist over the edges of the tin. Roast in a pre-heated oven 160oC/325oF/Gas Mark 3 for 21/2 hours.
3. Remove the foil from the pan, spoon the cooking juices over the lamb, onions and potatoes then drizzle the lamb with the remaining honey. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes until the lamb is a deep golden and the meat is almost falling off the bone.
4. When ready to serve, mix all the salsa verde ingredients together and spoon into a serving bowl. Carve the lamb into thick slices and add to a serving plate or shallow bowl with the potatoes, onions and cooking juices and a spoonful of salsa verde.