Lamb and Roasted Vegetables

By Mrs. Canadian Renegade

This year we decided to buy a whole lamb from our neighbour. I mean, I've never cooked lamb before in my life so it definitely seemed like a great idea. The two neighbours I turn to for advice - one of them being @alexanderfarm - gave me the same cooking instructions: a little salt and pepper, in a slow cooker for the entire day. That's it. I, however, am a sucker for punishment so we've been having lamb pot roast, Moroccan stew, and slow cooked shoulder with garlic and rosemary and gravy, oh my.

The Lamb

Of course, I was out of a few ingredients when I started preparing supper but the shoulder was thawed so it was on the menu. First, I lined the slow cooker with chopped carrots, a sprig of rosemary and sprinkled in 3 Tbsp corn flour. (Also, I actually only had corn meal so I just ran it through the coffee grinder to make it into a flour texture) Then, I added the roast and stuffed the top with fresh rosemary leaves and sliced garlic. The roast was seasoned with salt, pepper, and onion powder. Finally, I added in 2 cups of beef broth and 250 mL of cooking sherry. The slow cooker was set on low for five and a half hours. *Note: my slow cooker runs hot.

The Medley

While the meat was cooking, I made up a pan of roasted vegetables. I used to rough chop everything but with four small kids I tend to cut everything on the small side now. Fortunately, dicing smaller pieces means a faster cooking time. In this particular mix, I peeled and chopped two large sweet potatoes, two medium beets, and four medium carrots. I tossed the veggies with some light olive oil, 1.5 Tbsp dried basil, 1 tsp Himalayan sea salt, and a 1/4 tsp black pepper. Once everything was well mixed I transferred it to a 9 x 13 glass baking dish and set it in the oven to bake at 375°F for an hour.

When the roast was done, I completely forgot that I needed to bake it for another 20 minutes in the oven at 190°F. Whoops. I turned the temperature down, and popped the shoulder in the oven alongside the veggies. When it comes to root vegetables, I find they're hard to over cook and I'd rather have them on the softer side anyway.

The Gravy

While everything was in the oven, I skimmed the fat from the slow cooker juices and used a metal sieve to strain the liquid into a sauce pot. I took out some of the hot juice to mix with 1 Tbsp of corn flour (aka the finely ground corn meal). Once the sauce was brought to a boil I stirred the corn flour slurry back into the mix and whisked until it thickened into a nice gravy. I am no gravy expert but I didn't feel like I needed to add any spices. Everything tasted perfect.

Editors Note: I lied. There was something missing from the gravy: black currant jam. I could only find red currant jam and so I added that and it was just that much more tasty.

Let me tell you a little something about lamb anything and roasted vegetables in my house: there are no left overs.