Remember the old commercial where a young Naomi Watts turned down a date with Tom Cruise because her mum was cooking a lamb roast?
I can honestly say I would have done the same thing (had it ever come up). My mum’s lamb roast was (and still is) legendary.
While a roast is generally thought of as a pretty easy meal, timing can be a bit of an issue – will the veggies be ready at the same time as the meat? How do I know when the meat is just right? Why is my gravy lumpy!?
A great way to take the worry out of a roast is to use the slow cooker. This amazing device produces a roast lamb that is so tender that it can be ‘carved’ with a fork.
And the best part is, you only need to toss a few ingredients in the slow cooker and then go about your day, smug in the knowledge that you will come home to a perfectly cooked meal.
Actually, no, the very best part is that it looks as though you’ve spent hours in the kitchen when it takes just 10 minutes to prepare.
Ingredients:
- 1 large leg of lamb – if you don’t think it will fit in your slow cooker, ask the butcher to cut the shank off and place this into the cooker separately
- 1 bulb of garlic (or 4 tbsp minced), peeled and separated into cloves
- 1 sprig of rosemary (or 2 tbsp dried)
- 1 cup red or white wine
- 1 x 400g can of diced tomatoes
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp Gravox (optional)
Method:
- Turn your slow cooker to low and leave the lid on to warm up.
- Heat the oil in a large pan on the stove and brown your lamb all over (this should take around 6-7 minutes).
- Pop your tomatoes and lamb into the slow cooker.
- Take a knife and make 8 deep incisions into the meat. Insert 8 of the garlic cloves into the meat.
- Pour over the wine and then toss in the rest of the garlic.
- Sprinkle the rosemary all over the lamb, then season with salt and pepper.
- Cook on low for 8 hours.
- Remove the lamb from the slow cooker and place in a serving dish.
- Now to make the gravy, simply pour the juice from the slow cooker into a saucepan over a high heat and bring to the boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for around 10 minutes until it reduces.
- Add the Gravox (if using – it produces a thicker gravy) and mix until well combined.
- Pour through a fine sieve and serve with the lamb.
Serves: 6. Calories per serve: 200.
