Prep Time 10 minutes + marinating - Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes - Serves 5
This dish could not be any more Christmassy, well maybe if I used reindeer instead of lamb hahaha.
Classic flavours mulled wine, cranberries, clementines, star anise. I recon Mr and Mrs Claus would love it.
Ingredients
1 kg of diced lamb shoulder.
7 juniper berries, lightly crushed.
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, roughly chopped.
1 large onion, roughly diced.
50 g of dried cranberries.
3 carrots, cut into chunks.
1 small butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks.
3 tbsps of plain flour.
600 ml of lamb stock.
1 handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped.
Marinade Ingredients
1 bottle of mulled wine.
2 star anise.
1 tsp of black peppercorns.
10 juniper berries.
2 bay leaves.
1 cinnamon stick.
1 thumb piece of ginger roughly sliced.
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary.
3 clementine, cut in half.
Method
Squeeze the clementines into a large bowl then add the rest of the marinade ingredients along with the lamb. Cover and allowed to marinate for as long as possible but overnight would be best.
When you are ready to start cooking take the lamb out of the marinade and pat dry with some kitchen roll. KEEP THE MARINADE don’t throw it away.
Add the flour to a bowl, season and mix. Add the lamb to the flour and mix well. Then place an ovenproof casserole dish over a high heat with a splash of oil and brown the lamb on all sides then place to one side. Do this in batches so to not overcrowd the dish, otherwise, you will end up stewing the meat instead of getting a hard fry on it. After each batch add a little more oil.
Once all the lamb is browned and to one side turn the heat right down and add another splash of oil. Add the onions, rosemary and the juniper berries and cook slowly for 7-10 minutes so the onions get nice and soft.
Return the lamb to the dish and mix with the onions. Turn the up the heat to high and take 100mls of the marinade and pour into the dish. Allow to reduce for a minute, you should see it get thick instantly.
Now add the carrots, squash, cranberries and a couple of star anise and cinnamon stick from the marinade. Season, and add the stock (you want enough stock to cover everything). Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, but leave a gap, then pop into a preheated oven set at 160℃ for 2 hours. Stir it every so often. You are looking for a thick sauce and tender lamb and veg.
Once out of the oven give it a final check for seasoning and adjust accordingly then sprinkle with the parsley.
I like to serve this with buttery mash, some pickled cabbage and pomegranates.