Slow-Roast Lamb With Garlic, Rosemary & Thyme

When the nights start drawing in and the wind carries the chilly promise of winter, is there anything nicer than battening down the hatches and reading the Sunday papers on the sofa whilst a delicious dinner bubbles away in your handy slow cooker?  No?  I thought not.  

B and I picked up a shoulder of lamb at the supermarket (B wanted me to lie and say we bought it at The Ginger Pig, but we didn't.  A shoulder of lamb at that place may well be organically and ethically produced, but it also costs a gazillion pounds.  Sometimes choices must be made) and we literally couldn't wait to get home to cook it. 

We made a rub from several cloves of garlic, an onion, and lots of fresh rosemary and thyme, which we blitzed in the food processor with plenty of olive oil until they formed a delectable paste.  We covered the meat on all sides, then lowered it into the slow cooker with a cupful of red wine. 

We let the lamb cook for about four hours on a medium setting, while we lounged around watching West Wing repeats and loosening our waistbands in preparation for the evening meal.

About forty minutes before we wanted to eat, we took the lid off the slow cooker (so that the pot liquid could cook down into a rich, thick gravy) and prepared the vegetables.  We didn't want anything too fancy, since the lamb was the star of the show, so I simply sliced a handful of carrots thinly and drizzled them with honey and some chopped thyme, and let them roast until sticky and golden.  Some broccoli added a bit of colour variety.

Best.Meal.Ever.  Because it had been cooked long and slow, the lamb was super-tender and the ingredients in the rub lent it a delicious, delicate flavour.  We could have quite happily eaten the meat all by itself, but since we had to have vegetables, they were delicious too.

(Sorry for the massive box of Kleenex making a sneaky appearance in the photo above.  We have Man Flu in the house.)