At the start of Autumn I bought a local lamb for the winter freezer. (Cost £30). With the unpredictable weather we can get in the winter cutting off our lifeline service to the mainland it’s always a good plan to stock up a deep freeze. There have been times I’ve been to the local shop and there’s been nothing but a pig’s trotter for sale in the meat section (this really did happen!). The lamb came delivered in a black bin bag, with each cut individually wrapped in labelled freezer bags. Some of the cuts are like nothing you’d get in a supermarket, as you can see! Then, a few weeks later, I was gifted another lamb by a neighbour as a thank you for a gift I’d given his family. My freezer is full of lamb (and trout and blackberries, you’ll have noticed if you read my blog regularly!). We usually prefer to cook the larger cuts of lamb in the slow cooker with Moroccan style seasonings, but I fancied a change. Something baked in the oven. Something in a ‘meat & tatties’ homely sort of way. I found this recipe by Nigel Slater for a slow cooked leg of lamb with a herb rub which looked absolutely scrummy and of course, I had to adapt it slightly to use the ingredients I had on hand, namely local produce.
J.K. Mainlands Local Potatoes are the best potatoes I have ever, ever eaten. They make the most wonderful mash. I can never leave Shetland because I would miss them so much! I also had to add some Shetland Seaweed sprinkle to Slater’s delicious mash recipe (only to improve it, of course, and because Bod Ayre seaweed sprinkle goes into nearly everything I make these days!).
Orkney smoked garlic is out of this world with flavour too. It could be because the only other options are the tiny supermarket garlic or the hideously out of date dried up garlic at the village shop (am I the only one who buys garlic?!) but I think that the Orkney smoked garlic has a marvellous depth of flavour. The cloves are big, fat and juicy too and they make a wicked aioli.
A further adaptation to Slater’s recipe was that I thickened the gravy with some cornflour dissolved in water and I left the foil off the lamb for the final 15 minutes of cooking. Without browning the lamb looked a little bit like that poor sheep I’d found, long deceased, in a peat bog up the hill (poor thing!). Slater’s lamb recipe required browning to look palatable.
All in all this slightly adapted Nigel Slater recipe is a splendid method to cook a lamb roast. The resulting dish is moist and tender, full of flavour (that’s because it’s Shetland lamb!) and falls off the bone. The mash was a perfect accompaniment (although by the end you could notice that there was an awful lot of butter in it – you could easily reduce the butter content by 1/3, at least). Still, in the middle of winter when you’re wanting a comforting meat & potatoes sort of meal, this is it!
- large cut of Shetland lamb
- 1 bulb Orkney smoked garlic
- 1 tbsp sea salt flakes
- 2 sprigs, fresh rosemary, leaves only
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- drizzle extra virgin olive oil
- 1 heaped tsp cornflour
- 1 kg J.K. Mainlands selected local Shetland potatoes
- 100 grams butter
- 25 grams parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp Shetland Seaweed Sprinkle
- sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: serves 3-4
I am entering this recipe into Farmersgirl Kitchen’s Dish of the Month, which features recipes from Nigel Slater.
Mum of three, daydream adventurer, OU Life Sciences graduate, occasional crafter, ex-pat Canadian & quite possibly Britain's most northerly food blogger.
Barbara.irwin says
The list of ingredients mentions Parmesan but can’t see it in the actual recipe?
Elizabeth says
Sorry, I’ve edited it now – it gets stirred into the mashed potatoes at the end.
Sue Bowden says
love lamb and so going try this receipe x
Ursula Hunt says
Great recipe, the lamb will be so tender
Jo Bryan says
A gorgeous recipe, slow cooked, tender lamb is just beautiful. thanks
Debbie Skerten says
Sounds fabulous.
Heather Haigh says
Can;t get my hands on Shetland lamb but Yorkshire lamb is pretty good. We are lucky in having quite a lot of farm shops in the area – nice drive out and come back with some lovely grub. I do love my slow cooker too. Though it’s taking me so long to decide what to do with my lamb today it will probably be too late to use it lol. Working my way through your lamb recipes today for inspiration. 🙂
Elizabeth says
That reminds me – it’s about time I placed my order for my yearly lamb! We can get a whole one for around £30 which is a fantastic price. Grown out on the hill beside our house too so low food miles!
Heather Haigh says
Wow! That’s amazing value and such good provenance. I like the fact that we can see the animals that our meat comes from in the fields around the farms we buy it from. Some people are a bit squeamish about it but I find it reassuring to see them being reared in good conditions.
glenn hutton says
This looks amazing and so very tasty. I live in the Suffolk contryside and i am very suprised that you got the lamb so cheap. Isthere anywhere you could recommend for my area to purchase in bulk at fantastic prices?
Elizabeth says
I think the reason I get it so cheap is because it comes from my neighbour’s field. There’s no supermarket middle man (except for the slaughterhouse fee of course!). You can buy Shetland lamb online from Brigg’s PDO lamb, but that’s pure bred Shetland lamb so you pay a dearer price for it. I’m unsure of any other suppliers, but I’ll ask around and if I hear of any I’ll let you know.
KATE SARSFIELD says
Can’t believe you got a whole lamb for £30 (about €35 – 35). We love lamb in our family (Mum’s Welsh!) but can rarely afford it. The last leg I got from my local butcher set me back nearly €50. The mint sauce lasted longer than the lamb!
Susan heavenonaplate says
Crikey I am so envious of the quality of this local food…it makes such a difference to flavours too. This is a lovely recipe and you really had me salivating. Thank you for getting involved.
belleau kitchen says
this is what I love about living in the middle of nowhere with farmers as neighbours… I had nearly a whole pig in the freezer at one point… the lamb looks incredible, very melt in the mouth and perfect for this dreadful weather!
Elizabeth says
Rural living certainly has its advantages! Locally grown meat always tastes so much better than the mass produced mistreated supermarket varieties, I think.
Foodie Quine says
That sounds lovely. Perfect comfort food. Tell me more about Seaweed Sprinkle?
Elizabeth says
It was a lovely meal; I’ll definitely be making it again. Seaweed Sprinkle is sustainably produced by a local Shetland company, Bod Ayre. They harvest and dry edible seaweeds and package them in this handy little grinder. I’ve been putting it in nearly everything these days! It’s supposed to be really, really good for you – loads of nutrients and trace minerals and whatnot.
Janice Pattie says
Another stunning recipe. I love lamb and this sounds the perfect way to cook it. Thanks for joining in with Dish of the Month.