Love shoulder of lamb, its the best cut when cooked slowly its utterly delicious. The best thing about it is a half lamb shoulder that'll feed 3 is cheaper than 6 chops by a mile.
Anyway, I prefer to pot roast it as it keeps it perfectly moist and you get a mind-blowing gravy for free. Your better off buying one with the bone in if possible as it enriches the gravy.
1. Get a oven proof pot or saucepan big enough to place the shoulder in flat.
2. Heat it up to a high heat on the hob add a little oil and brown the shoulder all over. Remove from the pan.
3. Turn the heat down to medium and add 2 coarsely chopped onions, 2 chopped carrots a chopped leek, 2 chopped sticks of celery and 2-3 bashed out garlic cloves.
4. Gently fry until softening then add a tablespoon of tomato puree and quickly stir to coat the veg. Cook for about 2 mins to cook off the bitterness of the puree
5. Add a tablespoon of plain flour and stir. Cook off for 1 minute.
6. Add a cup of red wine and cook the alcohol off and keep stirring to combine into the flour.
7. Add enough chicken stock to cover the veg.
8. Add a sprig or two of rosemary and 2 bay leaves and place the lamb shoulder on top of the veg
9. Put a tight fitting lid on the pot and slap it in the oven preheated to full heat - about 200-220 degrees. The moment you close the door turn it down to 140-150 (fan assisted) or 160 degrees non fan and leave it for 2 to 2.5 hours for a half shoulder or 3-4 hours for a whole shoulder until its literally falling off the bone.
10. When its cooked, take the shoulder out - it'll be beautifully tender and falling apart and if its a good cut, almost completely fat free as it will all have rendered out through the meat. Rest it on your chopping board covered loosely in tin foil.
11. Pass the liquid through a sieve into a saucepan discard the left over veg and bring the gravy to the boil - season with salt and pepper and add a little balsamic vinegar. Reduce it to thicken. This is your gravy.
Yum Yum.
Loved the veg roasted in the spud's, great shout on that j.col. Served it up with a bottle of 2002 Merlot from