Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lamb

Preheat the oven to 150˚C.

Place the lamb shoulder into a large, deep roasting dish. Make several vertical cuts using a knife and a twisting motion to create holes.

Smash the head of garlic to separate the cloves.  Using the flat side of a knife, squash each clove flat to loosen the papery skin.

Insert the cloves into the holes you have made in the flesh.

Pour the red and white wines around the meat and season the meat with salt and pepper.  Place the whole onions alongside the meat. It’s not necessary to remove the onion skins at this stage – you can slip these off easily at the end of the cooking time.

Cover the roasting dish with tin foil, making sure to seal the edges firmly. You will probably have to use more than one layer as the foil will be narrower than the dish.  This ensures that the meat cooks in the steam from the wine and retains its moisture in spite of the long cooking time.

Put the roasting dish into then centre of the oven and cook for at least 5 hours.  At the end of this time, the meat should fall off the bone easily. Using two forks, pull the meat off the bone and arrange it onto a serving dish.

Remove the bone and onion skins from the cooking liquid.  Blend the liquid, onions, garlic and any small pieces of meat with a handheld stick blender (or in a liquidiser if you don’t have one of these) to make the gravy and pour it into a jug to serve alongside the meat.