It’s Easter and our Chef Nick gets very excited about his Easter Sunday meal as he takes this opportunity to cook his very favourite meat, Herdwick Lamb, courtesy of our very good friends at Lake District Farmers.
How To Cook My Lamb?
Roast Leg Of Herdwick Lamb
• If you can, Nick always recommends brining roasting joints 24 hours before cooking in a 5% salt solution (50g for every litre of water). This will help with tenderising the meat and ensure it’s well seasoned.
• Take your lamb out of the fridge about an hour before cooking to bring it to room temperature allowing the meat to cook more evenly. Nice tip.
• Pre heat your oven to 225c.
• Rub the meat with oil and season generously particularly if you didn’t get the chance to brine your Lamb.
• Place your beautifully seasoned Lamb into a Roasting Tin and cook for about 15-20 minutes on a high heat and then reduce to 180-200c and cook until medium. Nick recommends using a Temperature Probe for this, the ideal temperature in the centre of the meat should be 55c.
• Rest your meat for at least 30 minutes.
• Don’t waste the juices! Deglaze your Roasting Tin with a splash of White Wine, Water or Stock and add some Wild Garlic for a basic pan sauce.
• When ready to serve, cut across the grain into thin slices and pour over roasting juices. Perfect.
Pot Roast Lamb Shoulder
• As above, if you can then brine the joint 24 hours before cooking.
• Pre heat oven to 150 degrees.
• Slice Onions, Garlic, Rosemary and Thyme and place at the bottom of your Roasting Pot. A few Anchovies would be great too if possible.
• Season your Lamb if you haven’t brined it and place on top of your Veg and Herbs.
• Add half a bottle of White Wine, good quality stock or water so that it covers half the Lamb.
• Cover or seal the pot, place in oven and cook for approximately three hours or until the meat is very tender and falls of the bone. Oh yes.
• Once cooked, leave to rest for 30 minutes.
• Lastly, check the seasoning of the sauce and finish with some chopped Parsley, Lemon Zest and Olive Oil.
Nick would like to add a final tip, well, it’s more of a demand really:
DO NOT RUIN THIS AMAZING LAMB WITH POOR QUALITY MINT SAUCE!
