Much as I love a leg of lamb cooked on the BBQ and carved into just-pink slices, my favourite is a slow-roasted and spiced shoulder of lamb. Cooked low and slow for a good five hours in the oven, it will be soft and delicious and you can just shred it with a fork. Serve it with basmati rice with some fried onions stirred through or a Turkish pilaf or wrap it in flat breads with a quick pickled red onion relish for a memorable summer lunch or supper.

Serves 4

• Spice mix: seeds from 2 cardamom pods, 1 clove, 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, 5g coriander seeds, 10g cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp chilli flakes, 5g ground allspice, 1/4 tsp ground white pepper, 9g salt, 10g soft dark brown sugar, 1tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp ground turmeric. 
• 2kg to 2.5kg shoulder or leg of lamb on the bone
• 6 cloves of garlic – leave in the skin
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
• Salt, black pepper, ground cumin
• Serve with basmati rice , Turkish pilaf or flatbreads

To make…

• First, make the spice mix. Lightly toast the hard spices to release the flavour i.e. cardamom seeds, clove, fennel seeds, coriander seeds. Allow to cool and then finely grind with the chilli flakes (I use an electric coffee grinder I keep especially for this or you could use a mortar and pestle). Mix in with the allspice, white pepper, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and turmeric. It will smell amazing! Whatever you don’t use can be kept in an airtight jar and will keep for a couple of weeks – you can use it on beef and chicken too so it’s very versatile.
• Next, lay the lamb joint in a roasting dish and dust generously with the spice rub. Turn the joint and rub the mixture in with your hands. You want to cover it thoroughly without wasting the rub so add it gradually. Season it generously with salt and black pepper. I use Kosher salt as it penetrates the meat more easily. Set aside for at least an hour to allow the mix to permeate the flesh – you can prep this the night before and leave it in the fridge but remember to bring it back up to room temperature before you want to cook it.
• Preheat your oven to 140°.
• Drizzle the lamb joint with a little olive oil and rub it in – it needs to be just glossy not swimming in oil as the lamb will render its own fat during the cooking process. Tuck the garlic cloves under the lamb. Cover the tray tightly with foil and put it in the oven for up to 4 hours. The lamb should bake in its own juices becoming super-tender and full of flavour.
• After 4 hours, remove the lamb from the oven and uncover. Drain off the juices into a small saucepan to make a sauce later. Remove the whole garlic cloves and set aside.
• Turn up the oven temperature to 200ºC. Return the lamb to the oven for 40 minutes – the lamb skin should crisp up beautifully. Once it’s ready, take it out of the oven. Lift the meat onto a large carving board – it should be torn into shreds easily with a couple of forks.
• To make the garlic infused gravy, simply spoon off the fat from the juices. Squeeze the cooked garlic from the skin and whizz it into the sauce with a hand blender. Spoon the garlic-infused gravy over the shredded meat and season with sea salt, pepper and ground cumin. Carry the board to the table with pride!
• Serve with onion rice or Turkish pilaf, flat breads, green vegetables or a salad and fine slices of fast-pickled red onion marinated in lemon juice and a pinch of sugar and salt.

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