Shoulder of lamb with oregano and a minty green sauce

Every Saturday, Maddie & I head off to the local shops.  Once shy when out in public, she now runs up to the fishmonger shouting "Ian, kippers please!".  She also chooses our Sunday roast every weekend.  Curiously for a three year old, she rarely goes for the same thing two weeks in a row - she tends to run a rota through beef, pork, lamb and chicken.  That said, she's chosen lamb a couple of times recently.

I'm a fan of shoulder of lamb - whilst a bugger to carve, it does tend to provide a nice moist joint and takes other flavours well.  Recently, we did a white onion sauce which went very well (poach sliced onion in water or stock for forty minutes with a few sprigs of thyme, remove the thyme and blend, adding in some of the juices from the resting meat).  However, last weekend, we went down a more Greek route.

I won't give the full recipe for the lamb - enough to say that I pricked it all over with a small sharp knife and rubbed it with a mix of olive oil, crushed garlic, dried and fresh oregano and left it overnight before roasting.  The minty green sauce was pretty good though.

Minty Salsa Verde (Green Sauce)
(serves 4)

1 big handful fresh mint leaves
1 big handful fresh parsley leaves
1 fat clove garlic (or more)
1/2 handful fresh oregano/marjoram leaves
4 spring onions
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed & dried
1-2 anchovies (optional, I left them out owing to family pressures...)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Extra Virgin olive oil

Chop the herbs, garlic and spring onion together very finely.  It's important to do this by hand and not in a machine - a blender will turn this into a yucky sludge rather than a well-textured sauce. Roughly chop the capers, finely chop the anchovies and mix into the herbs with the mustard.  Season to taste and add enough olive oil to get a good consistency - you want something that is just spoonable.

Serve with the lamb, some rosemary roast potatoes and a good Greek salad.  The combination of lamb, feta, a black olive and herby sauce on one forkful is pretty mouthwatering...

tags: lamb  

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