Slow-roasted lamb shoulder with white beans and harissa



Serves 6

A whole slow-roasted lamb shoulder is a beautiful way to prepare lamb for a few people. When cooked for a few hours in a low oven, the meat becomes meltingly tender and can easily be pulled apart with two forks. The romesco is a purée of charred red peppers, crushed nuts, breadcrumbs and roasted and raw garlic. It’s a delicious, smoky, sweet and savoury accompaniment to lamb, but it also works very well with grilled fish, squid or even chicken. 

Soak your beans overnight first and cook them gently so that they remain intact and don’t burst open while cooking. If they do burst, do not despair; they will still be delicious. But under no circumstances should you drain the beans until you are ready to serve them. Instead, allow them to cool in their cooking liquid. Don’t worry; they won’t overcook.

Ingredients

1 X 2.25-2.5kg lamb shoulder, on the bone

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra to serve 

Juice of 1 lemon

½ bunch thyme, leaves picked

Beans

300g dried white beans, such as cannellini or flageolet 

1 onion, peeled and halved

2 carrots, peeled and halved

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons salt

2 bay leaves

½ bunch thyme

Romesco

900g-1kg red bullhorn peppers (or any sweet red pepper/capsicum variety) 

1 garlic bulb plus 1 garlic clove 

3 tablespoons olive oil

60g hazelnuts, toasted

60g almonds, toasted

1 teaspoon mild smoked paprika

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

60g breadcrumbs, toasted (see below)

Method

The beans can be made a day or two ahead. Soak them in cold water overnight and cover the beans with more water than you think they need. They will double in size during the soaking process, and if some stick out of the water, they will not soak evenly and will therefore cook unevenly. The following day, drain them and place them in a large saucepan with 1.5 litres (6 cups) cold water and the remaining ingredients (tie the herbs together so they are easy to remove later on). Bring the water up to a simmer and skim off any brown foam that floats to the top. Simmer until they are completely creamy and tender. This could take anywhere between one and two hours depending on the size of the beans. Add a bit more water during the cooking process if it seems like it is evaporating too quickly. Allow to cool in the liquid, then reheat, still in the liquid, to serve.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. 

To make your romesco, char the peppers completely over a stovetop flame or outside on a grill. It’s important that they are blackened so that the skins come off easily. Place them in a bowl and cover with a lid so they steam and cool. Once cooled, peel them, removing any seeds or stem that are still attached. Add to a blender and blitz to a paste. You don’t want a superfine paste, but something with a bit of texture to it. 

To roast your garlic, cut the top quarter off, place it on a piece of aluminium foil and pour over one tablespoon oil and a sprinkle of salt. Wrap it up tightly in the foil then bake in the oven for 45 minutes until it is soft and beginning to turn golden. Set aside to cool. 

Place your toasted nuts in a mortar and pestle and crush finely, stopping before they turn to a paste. In a bowl, combine the crushed nuts with the pepper purée, squeeze the soft garlic out of its skin and add it along with any of its roasting oil, the smoked paprika, remaining olive oil and vinegars, and grate in the raw clove of garlic. Add the breadcrumbs just before serving so that they don’t go soggy.

The night before you want to cook your lamb, season it liberally with salt and pepper and refrigerate, uncovered, overnight. 

The next day, remove it from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Pour the olive oil and lemon juice over the lamb and rub it with the thyme leaves. Place it on a tray and roast for six to seven hours until very tender. The meat should fall off the bone. If the shoulder needs extra caramelisation, increase the heat to 220°C for the last 20 minutes of cooking to brown the outside. Rest the meat for 20 minutes on a serving platter so that its juices will mingle with the beans.

Spoon the hot beans around the lamb and drizzle with some good olive oil and a final seasoning of salt and pepper. Serve with the romesco.

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs … ah, breadcrumbs. The joy! The usefulness! That delicious crunch! But also … the frustration. When I first started leading a kitchen, making breadcrumbs was the job that people got wrong the most. It was also the job that made me realise I had better start being extremely clear on every detail if I wanted the result I was looking for. There are just so many ways to make breadcrumbs. None are really wrong per se, but without using my method I watched people do the most interesting things: leave the crust on, take the crust off, dry out before processing into crumbs or process while fresh, toast dry, toast with oil, toast in a low oven, toast in a hot oven, or even on the stove. The possibilities were endless and therefore I experienced a lot of dry, uneven, chewy and not perfect breadcrumbs. Here is my favourite way to produce a crunchy but delicate, oily breadcrumb that makes the perfect pasta topping.

Firstly, the type of bread you select is important; you want a loaf with some integrity and a good amount of crumb compared to crust, like a sourdough or miche or Italian loaf. A baguette or sandwich bread would not work with this method.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Take a loaf of at least one-day-old bread — a few days older is also fine, just as long as it hasn’t gone completely hard. Using a serrated knife, carefully cut off all the crusts and discard them. Tear the bread into chunks, place in a food processor and process until everything is completely crumbly. Transfer those crumbs to a mixing bowl and pour a lot of extra virgin olive oil on them. How much? Again, this depends on how much crumb you have but, as a starting ratio, I would say for every 200g of crumbs, 75ml olive oil should suffice. Season the crumbs with a good pinch of salt and lay them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Spread them out so they are snug, but in a pretty flat layer. 

Bake, checking and mixing them every five minutes, until they are done (this is the most annoying part of this process, but I promise they are worth it). You don’t have to do it as much in the beginning, but once they start to colour, you need to be near the oven. A metal spatula is a good tool for mixing up the crumbs as they toast. If you don’t take the time to do this you will end up with a ring of burned crumbs around the edges and wet, soggy crumbs in the centre. When they are golden brown all over, you can remove the tray from the oven and allow the crumbs to cool on the tray, remembering though that they will keep deepening in colour for a few minutes after you remove them. Once cooled, store in an airtight container and they will keep for up to one week in your cupboard.