Roast lamb shoulder joint with anchovies, garlic and capers

Can’t beat a good ole’ roast lamb on a Sunday. Also can’t go wrong with pairing anchovies, garlic and capers with lamb. So this recipe is for a stuffed lamb shoulder joint with the delicious anchovies stuffing.

I used a boneless lamb shoulder joint but you can also debone your own (lamb) shoulder if you want, I went for the easy route this time. Prep your shoulder joint by making small shallow cuts on the surface of the lamb where the stuffing marinade will be smeared on shortly. Prepare your trivet in your roasting tray, I usually use roughly chopped onion, carrots or celery, any vegetables that will create a layer at the bottom of your roasting tray so that your meat can sit on the vegetable bed rather than directly on the tray. It helps the juices from the meat run down during cooking which can be used for making the gravy later.

To make the stuffing, chop up some anchovies, 3-4 cloves of garlic and around 10-15 capers then place these in a pestle and mortar with some ground sea salt for the mixture to grind against. Add a glug of olive oil (or use some of the oil from the tin of anchovies) to the stuffing mix before pounding this mixture with the mortar until you get a rough paste.

Now spread roughly half to two thirds of this stuffing on one side of the lamb shoulder joint, massage it in. Roll up your shoulder joint and use some cooking string to hold the joint together. Place the joint roll on top of your trivet in the roasting tray and spread the remaining anchovie mixture on top of the joint, like a crust.

Pre-heat your oven to 200C, pour approximately 1 cup of water into the baking tray before placing a piece of foil loosely over the joint on the tray. This will create a little steam within the foil and your crust won’t be burnt to a crisp. Once the oven has been pre-heated, place the lamb in the oven and turn the temperature down to 180C to cook according to the weight of your joint. In the last 30 minutes, remove the foil for the remainder of the cooking time to allow some browning.

At the end of the cooking time, remove the meat onto a pre-heated tray and cover tightly with foil to allow to rest for 15-20 minutes whilst you prepare the gravy and everything else. Carve and serve with roast potatoes and veg of choice.

Happy eating!