Herby baked lamb in tomato sauce
Cook this ‘low and slow’ in its own sauce til it’s so tender you can carve it with a spoon
- Prep:5 mins
Cook:4 hrs 15 mins
- Easy
Nutrition per serving
- kcal 595
- fat 40g
- saturates 19g
- carbs 11g
- sugars 10g
- fibre 1g
- protein 42g
- salt 0.51g
Ingredients
- 1.8-2kg shoulder of lamb
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 oregano sprigs, leaves stripped from 2
- 3 rosemary sprigs, leaves stripped from 2
- 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 600ml red wine
- 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
Tip
TipIf you’d rather use leg of lamb, simply rotate it every hour in the sauce so that it stays moist. Whichever cut you choose, buy it on the bone – as the meat cooks it will gain flavour.Tagliatelle with lamb ragu
Shred the remaining lamb into small pieces, mix with any leftover sauce, then pop in the fridge overnight. The next day, stir through a 400g can chopped tomatoes or 400ml passata, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp leftover oregano leaves. Heat gently in a pan while you cook 400g tagliatelle, then toss through the drained pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan to serve.
Method
Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Put the lamb into a large ovenproof dish. Pour the oil into a small food processor with the oregano and rosemary leaves and the garlic, then whizz to a rough paste. Season the paste well, rub all over the lamb, then roast for 20 mins. Cover, lower the oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2, then roast for a further 3 hrs.
Remove the lamb from the oven and carefully pour off all the fat, leaving any meat juices in the dish if you can. Pour over the wine and tomatoes, poke in the remaining herb sprigs, then return, uncovered, to the oven for a further 40 mins. The lamb should now be tender enough to cut with a fork or spoon.
Carefully pour or spoon the wine and tomato sauce into another pan, skimming off any fat that rises to the surface, then re-cover the lamb. Let it rest for up to 30 mins while you roast the potatoes and finish the sauce. Heat the tomato mixture until bubbling, then simmer for 10-15 mins until thickened and saucy. Season with the sugar, and some salt and pepper if it needs it, then pour back around the lamb to serve.