Ingredients
For the brine2 litres water
75 g Cornish Sea Salt Crystals
40 g sugar
6 sprigs thyme
6 sprigs rosemary
4 cloves garlic (skin on, crushed)
5 black peppercorns
5 coriander seeds
For the lamb
2 kg shoulder of lamb, boned and rolled
2 tbsp olive oil
5 cloves garlic, peeled
30 g fresh oregano
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 tbsp Cornish Sea Salt’s Rosemary Sea salt
Ground or cracked black pepper
200ml water
For the kleftiko vegetables
500 g new potatoes
3 sprigs mint
2 tsp Cornish Sea Salt Crystals or Sea Salt Flakes
1 tsp Cornish Sea Salt’s Really Garlicky Salt
2 red peppers
2 yellow peppers
300 g vine-ripened, cherry tomatoes
2 red onions, peeled and cut into quarters
2 tbsp olive oil
Cracked black pepper
To make your soft herb sauce
15 g mint leaves
15 g basil leaves
10 g oregano
100 g olive oil
30 g red wine vinegar
15 g honey
½ tsp Cornish Sea Salt
To finish
150 g feta
Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 220°C Fan.
2. First brine your lamb – this can be done at least 24 hours before cooking. To make your brine, bring all of the brine ingredients to a simmer in a saucepan to dissolve the sugar and Cornish Sea Salt Crystals. Leave to cool, then add your lamb shoulder and brine for six hours.
3. Then take your lamb out of the brine and pat dry with kitchen roll or a tea towel and place in the fridge until needed. Let your lamb come up to room temperature by taking it out of the fridge 2 hours before using.
4. First, pierce the exterior of the lamb all over with a knife, creating little incisions. This will allow your garlic and herb mixture to penetrate the lamb.
5. Take a pestle and mortar and add 1 tbsp olive oil, the garlic cloves, 30 g of oregano and the lemon zest. Give the ingredients a good pounding until you have a rustic-looking paste. Now add the lemon juice. Then rub the lamb all over with some olive oil
and generously season with Cornish Sea Salt’s Rosemary Sea Salt and ground black pepper.
6. Then rub the herb mix into the lamb well, making sure to include those cuts you’ve made all over the lamb. Next roll your lamb and tied it with string. Place your garlic and herb lamb shoulder directly onto your oven rack with a roasting tray underneath to catch the melting fat and add the water. Make sure your roasting tray is big enough for your vegetables later on.
7. Roast your lamb in your preheated oven at this high temperature for 20 minutes, then turn the heat down to 150°C Fan and cook for about 2 ½ hours until the lamb is soft to touch. The best way to tell is to push a knife or skewer through the centre of the lamb and if it goes through easily your lamb is ready!
8. Now take a saucepan and add your new potatoes. Cover in cold water and season well with the Cornish Sea Salt Crystals or Flakes and add the 3 sprigs of mint. Bring the potatoes to a simmer and gently cook until a small knife or skewer goes through the potato with ease.
9. Drain the potatoes in a colander and when cool enough to handle cut them in half lengthways to give you as much roasting surface area as possible. Add to a bowl with the chopped red onions and 1 tbsp of the olive oil and season lightly with Cornish Sea Salt’s Really Garlicky Salt and a couple of twists of cracked black pepper.
10. Now prepare the peppers. Cut them in half and remove the green stem and seeds, then cut them in half again lengthways. Then turn the pieces of pepper around and cut in half to give you rustic looking chunky squares and place in a bowl. Remove the cherry tomatoes from the vine (do not throw away the vine) and cut the tomatoes in half and add to the bowl with the peppers and add 1 tbsp olive oil and season with Cornwall Sea Salt’s Really Garlicky Salt and a couple of twists of cracked black pepper.
11. Once the lamb has had 1 ½ hours of cooking, carefully add the onions and potatoes to the tray of lamb fat underneath the lamb shoulder. Stir the potatoes and onions so they are all covered in the lamb fat and let them roast. Ten minutes later add the peppers and tomatoes with the vine, stir again and continue to roast for a further 35 minutes until the lamb is cooked. Stir your kleftiko vegetables every so often. Once the lamb is ready take the vegetables and lamb out of the oven, sit the lamb on top of your vegetables and allow the lamb to rest and all the juices to run into your vegetables. Cover the lamb loosely with tin foil.
12. Meanwhile, make your herb sauce – this can be made well in advance. Finely chop the herbs but try not to pound them into your board – you want a rustic-looking sauce. Add all the herbs together in a bowl and then add the olive oil, red wine vinegar and honey. Stir them all together then season with the Cornish Sea Salt.
13. To serve, place the lamb on a chopping board and remove the string. Pour off any excess fat that might be in the vegetable roasting tray. Stir the vegetables one last time. Carve the lamb and place over the kleftiko vegetables. Then crumble the feta with your fingers and scatter over the lamb and finish by pouring the herb sauce all over. Place in the centre of the table and serve.
