ROMAN LAMB WITH ANCHOVIES & ROSEMARY

With a bottle of red wine this feels like a proper Roman feast. Italians enjoy the juices from the pan rather than a gravy but we’ve written a recipe for one as half of our family are English and like their gravy! Don’t be put off by the idea of fish with lamb, the anchovies melt away during cooking and leave a wonderfully savoury flavour.

PER SERVING 5g carbs, 1.5g fibre, 46g protein, 40g fat, 573 kcal

Serves 8

1 medium shoulder of lamb (around 2kg)

2 sprigs of rosemary

(approximately 20cm long)

40g anchovy fillets in oil

2 fat garlic cloves

Salt and freshly ground black

pepper

3 celery sticks, halved

widthways

2 carrots, halved lengthways

200ml white or red wine

vinegar

200ml water

For the gravy

100ml red wine

25g softened butter

20g cornflour

Salt and freshly ground black

pepper

Sautéed spinach, to serve Let the lamb come to room temperature to ensure it cooks evenly. Cut away any very tough skin from the top; waxy fat is good, so you can leave that. Preheat the oven to 220°C/ fan 200°C/gas 7.

Pull the leaves off the rosemary and discard the stems. Pile the anchovies, garlic and rosemary together on a board with a little salt and pepper and chop together until you have a rough paste. Use a sharp knife to spear the lamb in about 20 places and push a pinch of the paste into each small cut. Lay the celery and carrots in the centre of a baking tray to form a trivet for the lamb to sit on; this will keep it out of the water and vinegar in the dish.

Rub the lamb all over with salt and place it on top of the vegetables. Pour the vinegar and water into the tray. Cover the tray tightly in 2 layers of foil and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas 4 and roast for 3 hours. After this time remove the foil (carefully, as the steam rushes out) and pull the shoulder bone away slightly. The meat around it should give easily, be tender and about to fall off the

bone. If it is not done, replace the foil and put the lamb back into the oven.

Remove the lamb and vegetables from the roasting pan and set aside on a plate to rest, covered in foil and a cloth. Strain the juices from the cooking pan into a medium saucepan through a fine sieve. Let the juices settle and scoop off the fat from the surface with a ladle and discard. Add the red wine to the juices with about 300ml hot water and stir – how much water you need to add depends on how much liquid you already have from the lamb juices and how much gravy you want to make. Thicken the sauce by mixing the butter and cornflour together in a small bowl. Add a little of this mixture to the gravy with a whisk and cook over a medium heat until thickened. If it doesn’t get thick enough after a few minutes, add a little more butter and cornflour.

Season to taste and pour into a warm gravy boat or jug. Put the lamb into a warm serving dish with the gravy on the side.