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Monday, 16 January 2017

Shoulder of lamb with date and pomegranate stuffing

Did you know that this is Blue Monday? Officially it's the lowest point of the year. With all the fun of Christmas been and gone, but the bills still lingering for payment it's the day when we're all supposed to be feeling the most bleugh!

Looking on the bright side: things can only get better after today ... 😜

And one way to make everything happier is to cook up some soul food indoors. So I'm comfort-eating with hearty winter fare to get me through Blue Monday. Mr B has a partiality for roast lamb, and  I'm rather keen on rolled roasts. I love the contrast of the meat and the stuffing. In this case I've added some dates to add a little sweetness, which works nicely with the lamb and some pomegranate seeds for a little extra zing.


Just read on for my recipe:



Ingredients (serves 3)

For the lamb

1.4 kg boned shoulder of lamb
Good glug of olive oil
250 ml of Guinness (one normal sized can)
1 cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 dessertspoonful of red currant jelly

For the stuffing

100 g stale bread blitzed in a food processor into crumbs ( I use the ends of a sliced loaf. I especially like the seeded ones to give a nice texture)
zest and juice of a clementine
50 g stoned dates, roughly chopped
1/2 pomegranate,  peeled and seeded (about a handful of seeds, so if you have a HUGE pomegranate you'll only need a quarter
handful of French parsley, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Make the stuffing

  1. Soak the dates in boiling water for 30 minutes. Drain, and squeeze out excess water, and roughly chop them.
  2. Mix the dates with the rest of the stuffing ingredients and set to one side.


Prepare the lamb
  1. Heat the oven to 150ºC/ 300 º F/ Gas mark 2
  2. Season the lamb to taste on both sides.
  3. Using a palette knife spread the stuffing over the meat, and then roll the meat into a sausage shape. Tie securely with string.

  1. Heat some oil in an oven-proof pan, and brown the lamb on all sides. 
  2. Remove lamb to rest on a plate.
  3. Brown the onion on the pan, and add the garlic.
  4. Pour on the Guinness, and add the cinnamon stick and the bay leaves. 
  5. Allow the mixture to bubble for about 5 minutes, scraping any pieces of caramelised onion off the bottom of the pan.
  6. Place the lamb in the middle of the pan and roast in the centre of the oven, covered loosely with some silver paper for 2.5 to 3 hours, until the lamb is completely tender. 
  7. Remove the lamb and drain the juices into a saucepan, skimming off and discarding any fat that may float to the surface. 
  8. Whilst the lamb rests reduce the juices by boiling vigorously for a few minutes. Add the red currant jelly and stir to dissolve in the juices. Season to taste.
  9. Slice the lamb, and serve with the gravy.


1 comment:

  1. This sounds interesting...I would love to try it sometime.

    ReplyDelete