Anne Morgan For a cheaper Sunday roast, Delia Smith’s roast shoulder of lamb feeds 6 people, with the bone left in. You push garlic and tiny rosemary sprigs into small slits on both sides, then roast it hot before turning the oven down. Allow just under 3 hours in all, with 20 minutes of resting while you make a white wine gravy.
This roast comes from her Guide to Meat Cookery, and her website still has it today. She calls shoulder the sweetest meat for roasting, and her Complete Cookery Course adds that it costs less than a leg.
The fat is the secret. It runs in thin layers through the meat, so it melts and bastes the joint from the inside as it cooks. Some people think shoulder is hard to carve, but she says a really sharp knife solves that.
She serves it with a redcurrant and mint sauce, which you will find on our mint sauce recipe page. If you have a leg instead, her roast lamb with garlic and rosemary is the one to follow.
Delia Smith’s Roast Shoulder of Lamb
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6
servings15
minutes2
hours30
minutes520
kcalA bone-in shoulder spiked with garlic slivers and little rosemary sprigs. It starts in a very hot oven and finishes more gently, with a quick gravy from the tin.
Ingredients
- For the lamb:
1 shoulder of lamb, 1.8-2kg
2 fat garlic cloves
3-4 sprigs of rosemary
1 rounded teaspoon sea salt
- For the gravy:
275ml dry white wine
salt and freshly milled black pepper
Directions
- Oven: Heat the oven to 230°C, fan 210°C, gas mark 8.
- Prepare: Peel the garlic and cut each clove into about 8 slivers. Break the rosemary into about 16 tiny sprigs.
- Underside: Make 8 little slits in the underside of the lamb with a small, sharp knife. Push a garlic sliver and a rosemary sprig into each one.
- Top: Turn the joint over and do the same on the top side.
- Roast: Put the lamb in a roasting tin, sprinkle the sea salt over the top and roast it for 30 minutes.
- Lower: Turn the oven down to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas mark 4. Roast the lamb for 1½-1¾ hours more, and baste it halfway through.
- Rest: Lift the lamb onto a warm plate and leave it to rest for 20 minutes.
- Gravy: Spoon the extra fat out of the tin. Pour in the wine and scrape up the crusty bits with a wooden spoon. Let it bubble until it has reduced by about a third.
- Serve: Season the gravy and pour it into a warm jug. Carve the lamb and spoon a little gravy over each plate.
Notes
- In June, when lamb is at its best, Delia likes it with tiny peas, baby carrots tossed in herb butter and Jersey potatoes.
FAQs
How do I cook a boneless shoulder of lamb?
Stuff it, as Delia does in her Complete Cookery Course. Her Shoulder of Lamb with Rice and Kidney Stuffing uses a boned shoulder of 1.6-1.8kg, for 4 to 6 people. She says it is simple to carve and happy to wait, so it suits a dinner party.
Soften a chopped onion in 25g of butter, then add a crushed garlic clove, 50g of long-grain rice and some thyme for 2 minutes. Pour in 150ml of stock and simmer it, covered, for 15-20 minutes. Slice 4 lambs’ kidneys, toss them in another 25g of hot butter for a minute and stir them into the rice.
Pack the stuffing into the pockets of the meat, then roll it and tie it with string. Rub it with soft butter, season it and roast it at 190°C, fan 170°C, gas mark 5, for 1½-2 hours. She makes a thick gravy from the pan juices with a little white wine.
What is her shoulder of lamb stuffed with rice and olives?
This boned shoulder is in her Frugal Food, for 4. Ask the butcher to bone a 1.35-2.25kg shoulder and give you the trimmings, then mince 75-110g of them.
Mix the mince with 75g of rice (weighed before cooking, then cooked), 50g of chopped onion, a crushed garlic clove and 2 tablespoons of parsley. Add 6 chopped stuffed olives and a little beaten egg, then season the inside of the meat with ¼ teaspoon of crushed rosemary.
Spread the stuffing over the meat, roll it up and tie it every 5cm. Roast it at 200°C, fan 180°C, gas mark 6, for 25 minutes per 450g. For the gravy, stir 20g of flour into the juices, then 275ml of stock and the other 6 olives.
How long do I roast half a shoulder of lamb?
Give it 30 minutes per 450g (1lb) at 190°C, gas mark 5 (fan 170°C). That is the timing in her Roast Lamb with Coriander, a Frugal Food recipe for half a shoulder that feeds 3.
She makes 6-8 slits in the meat and fills them with slivers from 1 garlic clove and 1 tablespoon of lightly crushed coriander seeds. A knob of dripping goes in the tin, and she bastes it now and then. Afterwards, a little stock or dry cider turns the juices into gravy.
Does Delia slow-roast shoulder of lamb?
No, none of her shoulder recipes is a long, slow roast. They all roast for between 1 and 2¼ hours, depending on the size.
Her slowest lamb dish is her slow-cooked leg of lamb in Beaujolais, braised gently under a tent of foil. For meat that falls off the bone, try her slow cooked lamb shanks instead.
Delia Smith’s shoulder of lamb roasting times
These times come from her own shoulder recipes. Where she gives a time per 450g, the times for each weight are our sums of her rule.
| Shoulder of lamb | Her oven | Roasting time |
|---|---|---|
| On the bone, 1.8-2kg | 230°C for 30 minutes, then 180°C | 2-2¼ hours |
| Half shoulder, 900g (2lb) | 190°C, 30 minutes per 450g | 1 hour |
| Half shoulder, 1.35kg (3lb) | 190°C, 30 minutes per 450g | 1½ hours |
| Boned and stuffed, 1.6-1.8kg | 190°C | 1½-2 hours |
| Boned and rolled, 1.35kg (3lb) | 200°C, 25 minutes per 450g | 1¼ hours |
| Boned and rolled, 2.25kg (5lb) | 200°C, 25 minutes per 450g | 2 hours 5 minutes |
Rest the meat for 20 minutes before you carve it. Her Complete Cookery Course also gives one rule for any leg or shoulder, so you can use it for other weights: 230°C for 30 minutes, then 180°C for 30 minutes per 450g.
