Slow Roast Lamb with Caramalised Onions

This has quickly become one of my favourite slow roast lamb recipes. I’ve adapted the original recipe from an ebook produced by the Beerenberg company, South Australia, featuring innovative ways to use all their delicious products.

I prefer to cook the lamb on a lower oven temperature for a longer time to get a really tender result. The lamb will hold well if need be, so that other vegetables can be cooked in the oven while it is resting. Just replace the drained juices with enough hot water to just cover the base of the baking dish, and replace the baking baking paper and foil covering.

Ingredients

• 1 lamb shoulder, on the bone, approx. 1.8kg
• 2 medium brown onions, cut into wedges
• 1 bunch of rosemary
• 1 carrot
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 jar Beerenberg Caramelised Onion
• 1/4 cup soy sauce

For the sauce

• All the juice from the baking pan, skimmed of fat
• 3 heaped tbl Beerenberg Red current Jelly

To serve

• Mint leaves, torn
• Parsley, roughly chopped
• Lemon, juice & zest
• 1 green shallot, sliced

Method

1. Make sure the lamb is at room temperature before cooking.
2. Preheat oven 160C
3. Line a baking tray with baking paper or use a disposable foil tray, which I prefer.
4. Make a trivet for the lamb by placing the onions, carrot, garlic and rosemary in the base of the dish.
5. Place the lamb on top.
6. Spoon over the caramelised onion, then pour over the soy sauce.
7. Cover the dish with a piece of baking paper, and two layers of foil and seal well.
8. TURN THE OVEN DOWN TO 120C
9. Braise the lamb for approximately 6 -7 hours, until it is tender and just about falling off the bone.
10. Gently lift the lamb out of the baking tray and pour off all the juices.
11. Return the lamb to the tray while making the sauce and keep warm in the turned-off oven.

To make the sauce

1. Pour the juices into a fat separating jug, if you have one, this makes the task easy. Otherwise skim off the fat with a ladle.
2. Heat the skimmed juices in a small saucepan, with the red current jelly until it is melted. Adjust the seasoning.
3. If you would like to thicken the sauce a little, slake some potato flour or corn starch in a little water and stir into the sauce until you have the desired consistency.

To serve

1. Lift the lamb onto a serving platter, and gently fork some of the flesh apart.
2. Spoon over a little sauce to moisten and serve the remainder separately in a jug.
3. Squeeze over a little lemon juice and sprinkle over the lemon zest, shallot, mint and parsley.