Ras El Hanout spiced shoulder of lamb

Here’s a lovely way to cook lamb – the aromatic Moroccan flavours of cardamom, rose petal and paprika in Ras El Hanout are perfect for the sweet tenderness of the meat. If you’re looking for an alternative for Easter, why not try it? By using a small joint which cooks in only 1 1/2 hours, you can have ‘slow roast’ style meat without the ‘slow’. That is, providing you don’t have loads of people to feed!

Ras El Hanout is fairly readily available these days from supermarkets and online. In this recipe, I used the Spicentice version. As you’ll know from previous posts, I really rate their products. They are local to me as a Leicester based company and they produce a range of delicious spice kits and mixed.

Ingredients: serves 2- 3

• 680g shoulder of lamb, approx
• 2 tbsp Ras El Hanout spice blend (I use Spicentice)
• Juice of a lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

Method:

• Mix the Ras El Hanout in a small bowl with the lemon juice, oil, garlic and salt and pepper.
• Rub the marinade over the lamb and then cover in clingfilm and leave it in the fridge for at least 2 hours and even better, overnight.
• Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6, and take the lamb out of the fridge. It should be at room temperature before you start to cook it.
• Put the lamb in a roasting tin and pour any marinade left in the dish over the meat. Roast for about an hour and a half.
• Rest the lamb for 15 mins before carving.

The finished thing. Served simply with potato wedges and oven roasted carrots, peppers and spring onions.