slow roast shoulder of lamb with moroccan spices and salt cured orange

This is my first attempt at using my brand new slow cooker. I'm quite excited by the possibilities and couldn't wait to prepare some slow cooked meat. I apologise now if my blog gets a little overtaken with slow-cooking recipes. I'll do my best to not get too carried away. Anyways, whether you're a novice or pro slow-cooker I urge you to give this recipe a try. You could serve it with couscous but I decided to shred it and serve with flat bread and a range of side dishes including roast butternut squash and marrow slices, hummus, mint and garlic sauce and some sriracha too (I love that stuff).



Ingredients
1 kg half shoulder or leg of lamb
Rub
2 tbsp ras al hanout (check out this recipe for the spice mix or use shop bought)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp honey or agave syrup
1 tbsp dried mint (don't even think about using fresh - it won't work anywhere near as well.)
1 salt cured orange, pith removed, sliced into quarters
2 onions, peeled and roughly sliced
2 sticks of celery, halved
2 carrots, peeled and halved

1. Mix the spice rub ingredients together and rub into the lamb making sure it is completely slathered in the mix. Cover and set to one side to marinate. I left mine overnight but an hour or so should do it. 
2. Put the carrot, celery, onion and orange into the base of a slow cooker and put the lamb on top. Add a cup of water then cover with the lid and leave to cook on low/medium for 6 -12 hours. You may need to adjust this depending on your slow cooker. It is ready when the meat pulls apart easily and is falling off the bone. 
3. When cooked, remove the meat from the slow cooker and when cool enough to handle pull the meat apart into smaller pieces.
4. Serve with hummus, roast vegetables, flat bread and yogurt and chilli sauces. 

easy mint and garlic sauce

This sauce goes brilliantly with my lamb kebabs or any other grilled food. Feel free to do as you wish with it. I tried it with some monkfish and salmon skewers and it was ace too. You can use any type of yogurt but I suggest you avoid set yogurts. There is also no need to go for full fat versions here, you are adding a lot of flavour so it seems a shame to waste the calories.
This is also another recipe in which it is best to use dried rather than fresh mint. I discovered this when reading one of my favourite recipe books from the Turkish restaurant, Sofra. Enjoy.

Ingredients
small pot of low fat natural yogurt. (I used this one.)
1-2 tsps dried mint
1 clove of garlic, crushed (optional)
salt to taste
pepper

Mix all the ingredients and adjust to your taste. Not everyone likes the taste or pungency of raw garlic so add as much or as little as you like.

tasty easy lamb kebabs

We've recently come back from a weekend camping trip and were lucky enough to have glorious weather the whole time. As the campsite provided fire pits with cooking grills I decided to make the most of it and cook up an outdoor feast of lamb kebabs and grilled veggies. I can't help thinking that I was inspired to cook lamb because I was in a field of sheep!

You can't beat the flavour you get in these kebabs if you are able to barbecue them but they can also be cooked at home in a ridged griddle pan. To make them in to a meal add your favourite combination of flat bread, grilled veg, aubergine puree, hummus, yogurt dressing and chili sauce (this one is my current favourite). YUM

Ingredients

400g lean lamb mince (you can use the full fat version but this still has more than enough fat in it)

2-4 tsp harissa paste

1 tsp dried mint (it really is much better than fresh in this recipe)

red chilli flakes (optional)

small onion, finely chopped or grated

salt & pepper

Skewers (if you are using wooden ones make sure they are soaked in water for at least 30 mins)

Makes 6-8 kebabs depending on size.

1. Preheat your griddle pan if cooking indoors or make sure you barbecue/fire is glowing hot and ready to cook on.
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, hands work best but use a spoon if you must.
3. Divide the mix into 6-8 portions in the bowl then take each portion and form into long sausage shapes around the skewers. You don't have to use the skewers but it does make it easier to turn the kebabs. If you don't use skewers feel free to shape the lamb however you wish.
4. Place the kebabs on the very hot grill/griddle pan and don't move them around or turn them until they are nicely browned and come away easily from the grill. Once they can be moved, rotate them so that they are cooked evenly. you want them to be nice a golden brown all round - not burnt.