Slow Roasted Lamb with Mint-Caper Sauce and Boulangere Potatoes

Posted on March 31, 2014

Until I moved to England I had never eaten lamb. There I said it. Is that embarrassing? Does that make me boring? But honestly I didn’t really know anyone that at roasted lamb growing up. In England on the other hand, it’s extremely common. You’re as likely to see roast lamb as roast beef on offer for a big Sunday dinner.

I’ll chalk part of it up to how much more expensive lamb is in America. Anyone wishing to delve deeper into this food culture divide should read this excellent article on the American lamb industry.

Slow Roasted Lamb with Mint-Caper Sauce and Boulangere Potatoes

If you pay close attention to the photos you can see that it was day when it was started, and night when done.Ingredients:

(For lamb and potatoes)6 large potatoes, thinly sliced3 onions, slicedbunch of thymeseveral springs of rosemaryshoulder of lamb (about 2 kg)1 head of garlic2 1/2 cups of chicken stocksalt and pepper, to taste(For the sauce)1 tablespoon flour2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock2 heaping tablespoons of capers (drained)1 large bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

I know, rare meat- pretty gross looking. But all the herbs made the house smell lovely.Instructions:

Preheat oven to 266 F (very low because it’s in there so long). Mix potatoes, onions and herbs together in a bowl and then season with salt and pepper. Layer the potatoes and onions into a roasting tray, and then put the lamb on top (skin side up). With a sharp knife, pierce the lamb all over and then put a clove of garlic into each whole. Pour the chicken stock over top.

Sam doing the dirty work for me.Roast for 4-5 hours until the lamb is very tender and the potatoes are soft. Remove the roasting tray from the oven, cover the lamb with foil and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Whilst it’s resting make your sauce. Over medium heat, pour any scrapings and fat from the roasting tray into a saucepan on the stovetop stir together with your flour. Add your stock and capers and simmer for a few minutes.

Just the right amount of mint!Chop your mint and add it to the sauce with the red wine vinegar and then immediately remove from heat.

The joy of a potato that has been in the oven for hours!

To top off this Sunday treat, there were homemade Yorkshire puddings. The recipe isn’t here, I’m just proud of how they turned out. Last time they were attempted from scratch, it was not very successful. Ie: a disaster!

This time last year I was making Baked Parmesan Paprika Chicken.