Twice cooked lamb forequarter roast

Serves: 6
  |  Prep Time: 20mins 
 |  Cook time: 10.5 hrs

Ideally cook the day before: Slow cooker LOW 7.5 hrs, slow cooker HIGH 4.5 hrs, oven cooked 3hrs  |  Cook time before serving next day: slow cooker 2.5hrs, oven cooked 90mins

Ingredients:

1 - 2 Tasman’s lamb forequarter roast, around 1.5 – 2 kg (bones left in)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tbsp fennel seeds
6 cloves garlic
sea salt and black pepper to taste
6 shallots, peeled and diced finely
2 sprigs rosemary
6 sage leaves
1 tbsp coriander seeds
½ tbsp ground cinnamon
1½ cups dry white wine (use water if you don’t have any)
¼ cup red wine vinegar
250ml chicken stock

Method:

1. If cooking in the oven, preheat the oven to 160°C. Peel the garlic cloves, leaving them whole still. Using the point of a sharpened knife, make small incisions in the meat of the lamb about 2cm deep, then poke a garlic clove into each hole. Push them down into the meat and under the skin so they stay put.
2. Rub the lamb with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy-based frypan over a medium heat and brown the shoulder on all sides (as far as practicable – the bones might get in the way).
3. Place the shoulder in a crockpot of a slow cooker, or in a large casserole pot.
4. Add the shallots to the frying pan and sauté for 1 minute. Pour in the white wine so that it bubbles furiously for half a minute, then add the red wine vinegar and chicken stock. Bring to a gentle simmer, scraping up all the bits off the bottom of the pan. Pour over the lamb.
5. Add rosemary leaves, sage leaves, cinnamon, fennel seeds and a pinch of salt to the sauce and cover tightly.
6. If using a slow cooker: Cook for 4 – 5 hours on HIGH, or 6 – 8 hours on LOW. If using a casserole oven dish: cook for 3 hours.
7. Remove crockpot from cooker and allow lamb to cool, keeping the lamb in the pot. When cooled to room temperature, place in fridge overnight. The fat will solidify.
8. The next day, remove fat from the surface, and add ½ cup chicken stock if the liquid has completely dried up. Re-heat in slow-cooker on LOW for 2½ hours. If using casserole dish, keep covered and reheat in oven at 160°C for 90 minutes.
9. Serve the lamb on a platter with the juices and poured over the top with a side of seasonal vegetables. The Lamb will fall apart as it is carved. Enjoy.