This is my current favourite thing to make in this wintry weather. I love that it's all in one pot (my Saucyware Dutch Oven is the perfect size for this dish), mixed up 4-6 hours before eating and then let all the magic happen in the oven for beautifully tender and caramelised lamb atop a warming, tomato and chickpea stew with pops of softened garlic and my favourite herb, thyme. This is the ultimate comfort food for me in winter not only because of how it tastes but because of the little effort required for something that is genuinely delicious. Time to text your boss that you're WFH tomorrow.
Tomato & Chickpea Lamb Shoulder
Ingredients
- 2 x 400g tins chickpeas
- 750g cherry-medium sized tomatoes, halved
- 85g double concentrate tomato paste (I like the Mutti brand)
- 7 shallots, peeled and halved
- 6 sprigs thyme, leaves picked (if you can be bothered, I just throw mine in)
- ½ whole lemon, finely diced
- 500ml chicken stock
- Chilli flakes (optional, not often present in my cooking these days because I’m feeding a bb)
- 2 heads garlic, sliced in half horizontally (use your knife to pull off the hard root cluster at the bottom)
- 1.3-1.8kg lamb shoulder
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
For the gremolata:
- ½ cup parsley leaves, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped or grated
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Salt flakes, to taste
To serve:
- Natural yoghurt
Serves 4
Method
- If you are organised enough and have the lamb shoulder the night before, or even the morning of, remove it from its packaging, place it on a tray and sprinkle the fatty top with table salt until well covered. Just before cooking, let your lamb come to room temperature and dab with a paper towel to remove the moisture. This will give you a crispier, thinner crust.
- Preheat the oven to 150°C (I use an oven thermometer to make sure my oven is at the right temperature especially when cooking things like this because you don’t want it to be too high and burn or too low and not be pull apart tender in time).
- In a large Dutch oven, add chickpeas, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, shallots, thyme, diced lemon, stock and a good pinch of salt flakes.
- Stir well, and nestle in garlic heads with the cut sides facing up.
- Place the lamb shoulder on top, fat side up, rub with olive oil and season with salt and cracked black pepper.
- Cook, uncovered, for 4-5 hours, until very tender.
- For the gremolata, mix together ingredients and season to taste.
- Serve with natural yoghurt and gremolata. Sandwiches the next day: Elite.