Eunice Power: How to make a slow cooked lamb shoulder — the ultimate comfort food dinner

It's time for comfort food: Get the slow cooker out for lamb

Eunice Power's Lamb shoulder served with tabbouleh. Picture: Chani Anderson

It is slow cooking time of year again, and I don’t know about you, but I’m craving comfort food. It’s not that cold outside yet, but I think we’ve officially got permission to slow cook. I’ve been seeing shoulders of lamb readily available in the supermarket that are really good value.

Lamb in general can be expensive, but the shoulder is the exception. It’s got plenty of connective tissue, so it cooks down beautifully, even though it needs time to get there.

I love to serve this with the tabbouleh recipe below, and honestly, this combination is good enough for a dinner party. I’ve made a traditional tabbouleh here, but I often like to swap out tomatoes for orange rind, juice, dried apricots and a little drop of orange flower water of you have it. (I say dried apricots very deliberately: I once did a cookery demo where one of the participants didn’t listen or read the recipe properly. I met her afterwards and she told me she used a tin of apricots in syrup instead of dried apricots in a lamb tagine. It changed the whole dish, and not in a good way!)

I’m using pomegranate molasses to drizzle over the cooked lamb, which has a fabulous citrussy flavour and should be easy to find in the supermarket. If not, try a health food shop or Asian food store. I’ve mentioned dried oregano before; its a lovely herb to use dried, as it gets wonderfully toasty when cooked, so it’s always one I keep in the store cupboard.

The beauty of this lamb is that it works just as well the next day, rolled up in pitta breads for a delicious lunch. To make a full meal of it, I’d serve the lamb with the tabbouleh — the perfect marriage of parsley and mint — and some kale rubbed with olive oil and crisped up in the oven; the texture is gorgeous alongside the lamb.

My second recipe this week is a little different. I’m very busy myself at the moment, and I often get up and hit the ground running, and skip breakfast entirely. So I’ve made a conscious decision to spend a couple of minutes the night before putting together overnight oats, which I can either bring with me in the car or have first thing when I get up.

It’s a small reminder to take a few minutes at night to make something nice and look after yourself, keeping the energy up – an army doesn’t march on an empty stomach, after all.

Make time for a little bit of self-care this winter. Overnight oats are also a brilliant vehicle for flavour, and a great way to use up all those bits and pieces of dried fruit, nuts, and seeds that tend to hang around in the store cupboard.

Big Nutty Overnight Oats

recipe by:Eunice Power

I love mine big, nutty and full of texture. I start with Flahavan’s organic oats. Being from Waterford, I’ve grown up on them, but honestly, it’s the toasty flavour and texture that keeps me loyal. From there, it’s just a few good things added and left to

Servings

2

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 45g porridge oats

• 1 tbsp milled flax seeds

• A handful of almonds (I use skinned,

• but skin-on works too, or swap in another nut)

• A handful of dates, chopped

• A generous pinch of cinnamon and salt

• 80ml milk (oat, coconut, or your choice)

• Thick Greek or natural yogurt, to serve

• A drizzle of honey, to serve

•  

Method

1. Combine the oats, chia seeds, almonds, dates and cinnamon in a tub or jar with a lid.

2. Pour over the milk and stir to combine. Cover with the lid and leave in the fridge overnight.

3. In the morning, top with a spoonful of thick Greek or natural yogurt and a drizzle of honey.

4. This is a simple little thing you can do for yourself the night before, and there’s plenty of room to swap things in and out.

5. Sometimes I’ll add chopped apricots or a few prunes, whatever’s left in the cupboard. There’s no real science to it.

6. Taking a few minutes to put something together the night before is a small way of looking after yourself, and it really does give you a great start to the day.

This is a simple little thing you can do for yourself the night before, and there’s plenty of room to swap things in and out.

Sometimes I’ll add chopped apricots or a few prunes, whatever’s left in the cupboard. There’s no real science to it.

Taking a few minutes to put something together the night before is a small way of looking after yourself, and it really does give you a great start to the day.

Slow-Cooked Lamb Shoulder with Oregano, Lemon, and Pomegranate

recipe by:Eunice Power

Lamb in general can be expensive, but the shoulder is the exception. It’s got plenty of connective tissue, so it cooks down beautifully, even though it needs time to get there.

Servings

6

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 shoulder of lamb

• 8 garlic cloves, halved

• A generous glug of olive oil

• Sea salt and freshly

• ground black pepper

• 8 shallots, peeled and

• halved lengthways

• 1 lemon, cut into large wedges

• 400ml chicken stock

• ½cup red wine vinegar

• ½cup white wine

• 1½tbsp dried oregano

• 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

• A handful of shelled

• pistachios, chopped

• Seeds of 1 pomegranate

• Fresh oregano, to garnish

• For the tabbouleh

• 100g bulgur wheat

• Large bunch flat-leaf

• parsley, chopped

• Large bunch mint, chopped

• 400g ripe tomatoes,

• deseeded and diced

• 6 spring onions, finely sliced

• Juice and rind of 1 large lemon

• 4–6tbsp olive oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

•  

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 140°C. Remove the lamb from the fridge at least an hour before cooking.

2. Score the lamb all over and insert the halved garlic cloves into theincisions. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

3. In a large measuring jug, combine the chicken stock, dried oregano, red wine vinegar, and white wine.

4. Transfer the lamb to a roasting tin with the shallots and lemon wedges underneath.

5. Pour the stock mixture over the lamb, shallots, and lemon. Cover with foil and return to the oven.

6. While the lamb is cooking, make the tabbouleh.

7. First, rinse the bulgur wheat under cold water until it runs clear, then drain.

8. Place in a bowl, pour over 400ml boiling water, cover, and soak for 30 minutes.

9. Roughly chop the parsley and mint. Add to a large bowl with the tomatoes and spring onions.

10. Drain the bulgur wheat thoroughly and mix with the herbs and vegetables.

11. Pour in lemon juice and olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

12. Cook the lamb for 4–5 hours until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.

13. Transfer the lamb to a board, strain the juices into a saucepan, and reduce.

14. Pull the lamb apart and place on a bed of tabbouleh.

15. Drizzle lightly with pomegranate molasses, sprinkle with pomegranate seeds, and scatter choppedpistachios on top.

16. Garnish with fresh oregano and serve immediately.