Slow Roasted shoulder of Lamb

I feel incredibly lucky to be able to get amazing organic lamb, delivered by the farmer himself,  all ready for the freezer, which has been reared less than 10 miles from here.....farm to fork with very few miles in between. Frank O' Brien in Durrow rears gorgeous tender lamb and it is a joy to cook with.
Shoulder of lamb is often under rated but cooked slowly it is so tender it falls apart.

For this recipe I used a boned and rolled shoulder which I marinated the night before.

For the marinade:

4 tablespoons rapeseed oil

2 tablespoons of Highbank Orchard Syrup or Honey

Juice and Zest of 1 lemon

2 Sprigs of Rosemary, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

Ingredients

1 Shoulder of lamb, boned and rolled

1 1/2 glass of red wine

Salt

Pepper

Begin by making the marinade, mixing all the ingredients together.Make deep slashes in the lamb, place the lamb in a roasting tray and rub in the marinade, making sure you rub it into the slashes and push some of the garlic into them. Cover and place in the fridge, overnight if you have time.

When you are ready to cook, remove from the fridge a half an hour before cooking and preheat the oven to 180.

Cover the lamb with tin foil and place in the preheated oven. Turn the heat down to 150. You are now free for the next hour so go and put your feet up and read a good book, or have a glass of that red wine that you need for the next step!

After an hour baste the lamb with the marinade and then add the wine into the bottom of the tray, re-cover the lamb with tin foil and allow it to continue cooking for another 2 hours. At this stage you can remove the tin foil and allow it to cook for another 40 mins or so until the lamb is cooked and pulls apart easily using two forks.

When you have reached this point, put away you book, hold off on the wine and place the lamb on a serving plate.

Deglaze the roasting tin, separate off the fat and reduce the rest, adding some stock if necessary (and some cornflour mixed with water if you like a thicker gravy) and you have the most delicious gravy.

Meanwhile pull the lamb apart using two forks and serve with potatoes, veg and some of the delicious gravy, or alternatively serve with some natural yogurt mixed with mint sauce.

Any leftovers make a gorgeous lunch when stuffed in a toasted pitta bread and drizzled with the yogurt and mint sauce.

The book I was reading while cooking this was Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver...I would highly recommend it.

The wine drinking, as ever, is not obligatory to the success of this recipe :0)

Enjoy!