Lamb with leek and spring onion mash

We do love our lamb in this house so after work I picked up a shoulder for a bit of slow roasting.  This is my favourite way of cooking lamb at the moment.  Don't get me wrong; I love a pink and juicy leg or  a couple of chops but there's something about a succulent shoulder that's a real winter warmer.

It was cold today, too!  I was in at work for 6am until just 11am to cover the baking.  The car took a fair bit of defrosting first thing and it was already starting to freeze over again when I got back to it at about half eleven!

The slow roasted shoulder I've talked about before.  It's the one studded with pockets of anchovy, garlic and rosemary; doused with half a bottle of red wine and with a head of garlic and more rosemary in the juice to get the gravy started.  Three and a half hours slow cooking whilst covered in foil and then left for half an hour to rest - can't fail!


For the gravy I softened a sliced onion and a little garlic in some butter and then added a glass of red wine and about the same amount of vegetable stock.  This was all cooked through and allowed to reduce before adding the juices from the cooking.  A little seasoning and the final touch of genius from The Queen of the Gravy which included some cornflour, odds and ends and a splash of cream and we were ready to go.

The mash was a sort of 'champ' thing again.  Into some really creamy mash I stirred a couple of finely sliced leeks which had been cooked in butter with a few sliced spring onions added at the end.  A delicious and easy way to warm up for the evening.  Not all that expensive either as a shoulder done like this with plenty of mash would easily feed four or more.