This is a great family recipe with no hassle and no stress. The lamb simply goes in to roast as you sleep, and you wake up to the beautiful aromas of fork-tender lamb roasted with garlic, Mediterranean herbs and lemon. The shoulder is the perfect cut for this type of recipe –there is plenty of fat, collagen and connective tissue to render out as it cooks and keeps the meat moist, so it works best done low and slow.
The
Swiss Diamond Roaster is perfect for this recipe. It’s so sturdy and hard wearing and the deep sides can hold large joints with plenty of vegetables too. The non-stick coating made from diamonds provides superb heat dispersion, reduces pan juices perfectly and allows the meat to caramelise gradually without burning. No wonder the Wall Street Journal is quoted as describing Swiss Diamond as being "The Rolls Royce" of
nonstick cookware.
After getting these types of recipes wrong for many years, I realised I was trying to cook too fast. By choosing a lower oven temperature (110-130°C), and also using a meat thermometer, you are sure to nail it. The science is that meat that has
slowly been brought up to an internal temperature of 100°C (190°F) will result in juicy meat fibres that fall apart easily. The holy grail!
Note: Ovens can vary greatly. Mine tends to run on the low side. So when I did my lamb, it actually had 15 hours in the end! I checked in the morning with my meat thermometer and it hadn’t come up to 100°C yet. I turned the oven up by 20 degrees and gave it another 3 hours. The result was amazing! The great thing about slow roasting overnight is that you can always turn it up to finish it off in the morning if it still needs more time.
Overnight Greek Roasted Lamb Shoulder
Serves 6-8. Cooking time: 10-12 hours (plus marinating time)
Ingredients:
- 1 lamb shoulder, bone in
- 1 lemon
- 1 onion
- 1 whole bulb of garlic
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp fresh oregano
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock or water
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground pepper
Instructions:
- Slice the lemon and onion into rounds and place with the fresh oregano and rosemary on the bottom of the roasting tray. Roughly crush the garlic cloves to take the skins off. They can be left more or less whole though. Add those to the tray.
- Wash the lamb and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Make some deep slashes all over so the marinade can seep through. Set on top of the lemon, onion and herbs.
- Mix together the dried oregano, salt, pepper, honey and red wine vinegar. Rub all over the lamb and into the slashes. Bring up some of the herbs and garlic to sit on top of the lamb. Let this marinade in the fridge for 6 hours or more (up to 24).
- Preheat the oven to 125C (250F). Add the stock to the bottom of the roaster and cover tightly with 2 layers of foil. Cook the lamb for 10-12 hours overnight. (Check the meat with a thermometer to make sure it has reached 100C (190F). If it has, the fibres should be able to shred easily. If not and the meat is tough, you may need to increase oven temp by 10-15 degrees and check every half hour after that. Do add a little more liquid to the bottom of the pan if needed.)
- Remove the bones, lemon, herb stems and any fatty bits. Shred the meat with two forks and remove to a large bowl, covered with foil. Leave any pan juices behind. Add 1 cup more stock to the pan (if needed) and deglaze the pan over a burner on the stove. Set aside in a jug. When ready to serve, heat the lamb back in the tray for 10/15 minutes in the oven and then pour over the juices.
