Slow-Cooked Lamb Shoulder with Roasted Vegetables

You can’t beat lamb shoulder, slow roasted with loads of vegetables, rosemary and garlic. It practically falls off the bone, the succulent lamb is so tender. I promise you won't even need a knife.

This week my Sunday Supper group is joyously celebrating a wedding we wish we could really attend, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, the sequel to one of our favorite movies. It’s been a long time coming! When the theme for this week was first announced, all I could think about was the quote from Aunt Voula, and one of my favorite scenes from the first movie.

Aunt Voula: What do you mean he don't eat no meat?
[the entire room stops, in shock]
Aunt Voula: Oh, that's okay. I make lamb.

So I had to make lamb. We eat lamb a minimum of three to four times a month at our house, either roasted leg or shoulder, lamb steaks, lamb patties with mashed potatoes and gravy, not to mention grilled lamb chops. This dish is one of our favorites and would make a great main course for Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday which will be celebrated on May 1st this year.

Make sure you scroll down and check out the link list of all the other My Big Fat Greek Wedding-inspired dishes we are sharing today, along with our talented host, Nichole from Casa de Crews. What a fabulous Greek wedding feast this would be!

Adapted from JamieOliver.com.

Ingredients
2 purple onions (approx. weight 9 oz or 255g)
3 carrots (approx. weight 9 oz or 255g)
2- 3 stalks celery (approx. weight 3 3/4 oz or 105g)
Few sprigs fresh thyme
5-6 fresh rosemary sprigs, plus 1 for garnish, if desired
Olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
5 lb 10 oz or 2.55kg lamb shoulder, bone in
2 1/3 oz or 65g cloves garlic (about 15)
2 red chili peppers (optional but we love the hint of spice that infuses the whole dish)
4 ripe tomatoes (approx. weight 11 oz or 312g)
2 cans – 14oz or 400g – whole plum tomatoes
1 2/3 cups or 375ml drinkable red wine (half a bottle)
2 bay leaves
1 large leek (approx. weight 14 oz or 400g, before trimming)

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and make sure the shelves are positioned so that you put a pan with a big lamb shoulder in it. I use my large Le Creuset roaster so I put the shelf almost at the bottom to leave room for the cover and its round handle.

Peel the onions and carrots. Quarter the onions. Cut the carrots and celery into bite-sized pieces.

Strip the leaves off of your thyme and sprinkle half of them into the bottom of a large roasting pan, along with a good drizzle of olive oil, a couple of sprigs of rosemary and a good pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Season the bottom of your lamb shoulder with more salt and pepper and lay it on the herb bed.

Use a sharp paring knife to poke holes in the top of the lamb shoulder, then stuff these holes with a quarter or half a clove of garlic (depending on the size of your clove) and a few rosemary leaves.

Give the whole thing a good sprinkle of salt, fresh ground black pepper. Add on the other half of the thyme leaves and a generous drizzle of olive oil.

Add the onions, celery and chili peppers around the lamb shoulder.

Chop your tomatoes in large pieces and add them to the pot along with the carrots.

Pour in the canned tomatoes, along with half a can of water and the rest of the garlic cloves.

Pour in the wine and then tuck the bay leaves down in between the vegetables.

Thoroughly clean the leek, cut off and discard the hard green end, and then chop the white part into small cylinders. Add these to the pot.

Cover the roasting pan tightly with a double layer of heavy-duty foil or its tight fitting cover and put it into the oven. Turn down the oven temperature to 325°F or 170°C and cook for about three hours.

Remove the cover or the foil, baste the lamb shoulder with the juice in the pan or drizzle with a little more olive oil.  Cook for another 30 minutes or until the lamb is nicely browned and falling off the bone.

You can gently remove some of the bones before putting it on the table for folks to help themselves or pull it apart for them in the kitchen.

Either way, serve it with some crusty bread to sop up all the juices. Or over the top of some mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!

Have you seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 yet? It just opened in the cinemas here in Dubai but I haven’t had a chance go yet so I am going to have to just console myself with some movie-inspired dishes instead. Won’t you join me?

Greek Appetizers:

• Greek Salad (Horiatiki Salata) by Angels Home Sweet Homestead
• Greek-Style Sliders with Feta Aioli by Grumpy’s Honeybunch
• Mushroom, Kalamata Olive and Feta Stuffed Phyllo with Whipped Feta Dip by Pook’s Pantry
• Rosemary and Olive Grissini by What Smells So Good?
• Socca Pizza with Spinach, Roasted Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, and Feta by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Spanakopita Bites by My Imperfect Kitchen
• Tiropitas (Greek Cheese Triangles ) by Moore or Less Cooking
• Tyropita Appetizer Bites by The Freshman Cook

Greek Soups:

• Avgolemono Chicken Zoodle Soup by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Quick and Easy Greek Avgolemono Soup by Confessions of a Cooking Diva
• Shrimp Avgolemono with Spinach by Monica’s Table
• Vegetarian Magiritsa (Greek Easter Soup) by Palatable Pastime

Greek Breakfast:

• Baklava French Toast with Cinnamon Honey Syrup by A Mind Full Mom

Greek Main Dishes:

• Brizola (Greek-style Pork Chops) by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Chicken Greek Salad Flatbread by Family Foodie
• Greek Chirashi Sushi by NinjaBaker
• Greek Breakfast Wraps by Brunch-n-Bites
• Greek Meatball Salad by Magnolia Days
• Gyro Meatballs with Lemon Rice by Casa de Crews
• Kotopita (Greek Chicken Pie) by Curious Cuisiniere
• Mediterranean Meatball Gyros Sandwich by Life Tastes Good
• Slow-Cooked Lamb Shoulder with Roasted Vegetables by Food Lust People Love
• Souvlaki Chicken Wraps with Homemade Tzatziki by The Crumby Cupcake
• Youvetsi (Greek beef or lamb and orzo stew) by Caroline’s Cooking

Greek Side Dishes:

• Greek-style rice salad by Pine Needles In My Salad
• Greek Zucchini Fritters by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Homemade Tzatziki Sauce by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Spanakorizo by Feeding Big and More

Greek Desserts:

• Chocolate Baklava by The Chef Next Door
• Greek Lemon Cake by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Greek Spice Cake by Our Good Life
• Greek Walnut Cake by Pies and Plots
• Greek Wedding Cookies - Kourabiethes/Kourabiedes by La Bella Vita Cucina
• Loukoumades - Greek Donuts by The TipToe Fairy
• Loukoumades (Greek honey fritters) by The Redhead Baker

Greek Beverages:

• Ouzito: The Greek Mojito by Hardly A Goddess

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Egyptian Date Crescents #CreativeCookieExchange

These melt-in-your-mouth shortbread crescents are filled with sweet and sticky dates then covered in powdered sugar. 

My Creative Cookie Exchange group is celebrating spring around the world today, with recipes for Easter, Purim, Passover and more. Searching online for cookie recipes is often a rabbit hole of no return, but I managed come back this time with these Egyptian date crescents that the author said she and her mother always made for her father for Easter.  In fact, Easter is celebrated in a big way in Egypt, which surprised me when we lived in Cairo. The Coptic Christians are a minority, but they are a very vocal and visible influence in life there, where they live side by side, for the most part quite peaceably, with their Muslim neighbors.

Adapted from What She’s Having.

Ingredients - makes 2 dozen cookies
7 oz or 200g whole dates
2 cups or 250g flour
1 cup or 225g  butter at room temp, cut into pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup or 60ml cold milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup or 94g powdered sugar

Method
In a small bowl, cover the dates with hot but not boiling water and set aside.

Using a pastry blender to combine the butter and flour and salt until they form large crumbles and there are no large pieces of butter.

Add the vanilla to the milk. Then add the milk to the butter and flour.

Stir until well combined. The dough is going to be quite sticky. If you live in a warm climate, wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes. Don’t leave it too long or the butter will stiffen up and the dough will no longer be pliable.

Drain the dates and remove the pits and any little stemmy bits on the one end.

Use a sharp knife to chop the dates finely. Use the edge of the knife to make a square out of the date paste and cut it into 24 pieces.

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and prepare two cookie sheets by lining them with baking parchment or silicone liners.

Cut the dough into 24 squares.

Taking one square at a time, form it into a ball.

Press the center of the ball down to create an indent and press it out into an oval. Place one piece of the dates into the middle.

Close the dough up over the dates.

Roll the dough gently between your hand to lengthen it. Bend into a crescent.

Place on your prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the bottom of the cookies are just golden. Let cool completely.

Roll in icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Check out all the lovely spring cookies we are sharing today!

• Chocolate Candy Coconut Cookies from Magnolia Days
• Easter Biscuits from Baking in Pyjamas
• Easter Egg Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Egyptian Date Crescents from Food Lust People Love
• Lemon Hamantaschen from Spiceroots
• Lemon Meltaway Cookies from A Baker's House
• Ma'amoul – Date Stuffed Cookies from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Malt M&M's Easter Cookies from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Maltese Figolli Cookies from Upstate Rambling
• Peach and Pistachio Frangiapane Hamantaschen from Live Bake Love
• Persian Chickpea Cookies (Nan e Nokhodchi) from Flours and Frostings
• Taralli Dolci di Pasqua (Southern Italian Easter Cookies) from The Spiced Life
• Zesty Citrus Bar Cookies from 2 Cookin' Mamas

Creative Cookie Exchange is hosted by Laura of The Spiced Life, this month with technical assistance from Anshie of Spiceroots. We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts at The Spiced Life). We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

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Mennonite Paska #BreadBakers

Peel and blend a whole orange and a whole lemon to create this slightly sweet yeast bread traditionally served for Easter in the Mennonite community. The buttery sugar glaze is not optional. Neither are the sprinkles. 

This month’s Bread Bakers challenge, chosen by our creative host, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla is to bake a traditional Easter, Passover or springtime bread, perhaps venturing into another culture or country to expand our horizons. I was determined to make homemade matzo because it’s impossible to find here and I thought with a homemade version at my disposal, I could try all the matzo-based recipes I’ve been seeing on the web like chicken soup with matzo balls, Chocolate Peanut Butter Matzo S’mores, Northern Fried Chicken and Chocolate Toffee Matzo, just to name a few. But the more I researched what it would take to make matzo at home, the more I realized that my sad, sad oven which can barely be coaxed up to 425°F or 218°C on a good day, was just not up to the task. So I started scouring the internet for something new, something different, something tasty.

According to Lovella, one of the authors of Mennonite Girls Can Cook and the sharer of this paska bread, she inherited the recipe from her husband’s grandmother and it’s one of the most viewed pages on their site. I was intrigued by the whole orange and lemon that are pureed then added to the dough. Lovella also declares, and I can confirm, leftovers make fabulous French toast or eggy bread.

Adapted from Lovella’s Paska Bread – I baked two in bread pans and one in a Nordic Ware 12-cup Anniversary Bundt pan but this could easily be stretched to fill four pans. Lovella made five to seven so they must have been smaller!

Ingredients
For the bread:
2 packets active dry yeast (1/4 oz or 7g each)
1 cup or 240ml warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 medium lemon
1 medium orange
1 1/4 cup or 295ml milk
1/2 cup or 115g butter, plus extra for buttering the mixing bowl before the first rise and the baking pans
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
About 7-8 cups or 875g-1kg flour, with a little extra for kneading

For the glaze:
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Good pinch salt
2-3 tablespoons milk
2 cups or 250g icing sugar

For decorating: colored sprinkles

Method
In the bowl of your stand mixer, put your yeast, the tablespoon of sugar and warm water and allow your yeast to proof. After 10 minutes, if you have a bunch of foam in the bowl, proceed. If not, throw it all out and start over with new yeast.

Meanwhile, zest your lemon and orange with a microplane or fine grater into the vessel of your blender.

Use a sharp knife to cut all the white pith and peel off of the citrus and then cut off and discard any hard membranes between the pegs. Remove any seeds and discard. Add the orange and lemon to the zest in the blender.

Put your milk and butter in a microwaveable measuring cup and heat them in the microwave on a low setting until the butter is just melted. Add them to the blender and blend for two to three minutes.

Add in the eggs, the rest of the sugar and the salt. Blend again for a minute or two.

Pour the mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer (where the yeast has been hanging out and, if all is going to plan, foaming) and mix well.

Start adding the flour, a cup at a time, mixing very thoroughly in between, until you have a nice soft dough. You may not need all the flour.

You can use the dough hook to knead the dough but it should be quite sticky still so I found it easier to take it out and knead it for several minutes on a lightly floured countertop.

Before kneading

After kneading

Wash out your large bowl and rub the insides with butter. I keep empty butter wrappers folded up in my freezer door for this purpose. One use only, but they work beautifully. Go ahead and prepare your baking pans in the same manner.

Return the kneaded dough to the buttered bowl and cover the bowl with a loose tea towel. Leave it in a warm place for about hour.

Before then after the rising. This dough soars.

When the dough has risen, divide it into three or four even pieces.

Press them out gently and fold them over in thirds lengthwise. Put them buttered pans, seam side down, and sprinkle on a little more flour.

Cover the pans loosely with tea cloths and put them back in the warm place for about 45 minutes. About 15 minutes before the second rising time is up, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

When the oven is preheated, carefully remove the tea cloths and place the loaves in the oven to bake.

As you can see, I could probably have made one more loaf.

Bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 200°F or about 134°C or the bottoms sound hollow when tapped.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool briefly in the pan. Turn the loaves out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make your glaze by whisking the butter, lemon juice and salt with one teaspoon of milk. Add in the sugar and stir well. Add additional milk a little at a time until you reach your desired pouring consistency.

When the loaves are completely cool, pour over the glaze and quickly decorate with colored sprinkles while the glaze is still sticky. It will harden after pouring, making the loaves easier to wrap and carry.

Enjoy!

Do you have a traditional Easter, Passover or springtime bread you make each year? Perhaps you’ll find a new favorite in this great list from my fellow Bread Bakers:

• Casatiello by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Choereg - Armenian Easter Bread by Chef Mireille's East West Realm
• Colomba Pasquale (Easter Dove Bread) by Cook's Hideout
• Cornish Saffron Easter Bread by Pastry Chef Online
• Folar (Portuguese Easter Bread) by Passion Kneaded
• Hot Cross Buns by En la Cocina de Caro
• Hornazo De Salamanca - Spanish Easter Bread by Ruchik Randhap
• Hungarian Egg Twist by Hostess at Heart
• Hungarian White Bread by Magnolia Days
• Individual Braided Easter Bread by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Italian Easter Bread by La Cocina de Aisha
• Lambropsomo - Greek Easter Bread by Spice Roots
• Lithuanian Easter Raisin Bread by My Catholic Kitchen
• Matzo by A Shaggy Dough Story
• Mennonite Paska by Food Lust People Love
• Pääsiäisleipä - Finnish Easter Bread by Bakers and Best
• Pane di Pasqua - Italian Easter Bread Wreath by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Polish Bobka Easter Bread by Seduction in the Kitchen
• Russian Kulich by That's My Home
• Springtime Sweet Bread by Cooking club
• Strawberry Fritters by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Tsoureki (Greek Easter Bread) by Simply Veggies

                                                              

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the BreadBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla has chosen breads from around the world that are traditional for Easter, Passover, or Springtime. Thank you for hosting, Camilla!

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Sliced up and ready to become French toast

Bunny Nest Carrot Mini Bundts #BundtBakers

What does a bunny bring for Easter? Candied eggs, of course. What you may not know is that bunny nests are made of carrot cake, cream cheese glaze and coconut. True story. (Unless you are in France, and then the flying church bells deliver the eggs and chocolate. Seriously. I don’t make this stuff up, folks!) 

On this day in 1968, my life changed forever when our family went from four to five with the arrival of my baby sister. I was five years old so I remember it well. I had been sent to stay with my maternal grandparents for a few weeks towards the end of Mom’s pregnancy. I “worked” with my grandmother in the store each day, dusting the appliances, keeping my “accounts” and playing in those fabulously large boxes refrigerators and the like are delivered in and occasionally accompanying my grandfather out on short service calls. I drank small bottles of ice cold Coca-Cola and Grape Nehi to my heart’s content from the old-timey red machine that took just a nickel. And my grandmother kept a small bowl of nickels at the ready. I ate candy and cake and ice cream at will. In short, it was the holiday of any child’s dream. Have all the babies you want! When the phone call came that Marta had been born, family lore tells the story of my reaction: I said that I would come home when the baby stopped crying. I have no personal recollection of making that statement, but, hey, I was no fool. I knew I had it good where I was. My parents were stunned when they picked me up. Apparently I was as wide as I was tall. So 1968 was also the year a lot of my fat cells were created. But I don’t hold it against my sister. She is smart and funny and one of the most generous souls I know. If Marta has bought you a gift, careful thought went into that thing and it will be something purchased with just you in mind.  She is one of my favorite people to spend time with, because she has a wicked sense of humor and can always make me laugh. She is a great cook, an astute businesswoman and a talented graphic designer as well as the caring mom of three beautiful boys. With an April birthday, Marta’s were often celebrated with an Easter theme when we were growing up so I thought it appropriate to make these little carrot cakes with her in mind. Happy birthday, dear sister! I love you!

Easter, circa 1969

This month’s Bundt Bakers theme is Easter and spring and our host is my good friend, Tara of Noshing with the Nolands. Happy Easter, everyone! Let’s bake some Bundts!

Ingredients
For the cake:
2 eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1/2 cup or 120ml of light cooking oil (canola or sunflower)
1/4 cup or 60ml milk
 7 oz or 200g carrots
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
1/3 cup or 40g finely chopped pecans or nut of your choice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the glaze:
4 oz or 115g cream cheese, room temperature
1 oz or 30g butter, room temperature
8 oz or 225g confectioners’ or icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
Zest 1/2 navel orange
2-3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

For the grass:
7 oz or 200g sweetened flaked coconut (That’s half a bag of Baker’s Angel Flake coconut.)
Paste food coloring – I used Wilton’s leaf green

For the candy eggs: I used pastel colored peanut M&Ms but any small candy eggs will do nicely.

Method
Peel and cut the very ends off of your carrots.  Cover them with water in a medium sized pot and cook until very fork tender.  Drain the water off and mash them with a potato masher until there aren’t any lumps. Transfer the mashed carrots to a bowl and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, you can make the glaze. Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat until well combined. Add the juice a tablespoon at a time. Keep adding juice until the glaze is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, but thin enough to drizzle. We are going to dip those mini Bundts in it to coat once they are baked and cooled.

To color the coconut for grass, put the coconut into a large Ziploc bag and add in your paste coloring. I use the end of a clean knife to scoop some out. Stick the knife in the Ziploc and use some coconut to clean it off.  If you need to add more coloring, always use a clean knife. Close the bag securely and knead until the coconut is uniformly colored. (This takes approximately half an episode - 10-12 minutes - of How I Met Your Mother online with no commercials, so have a seat and enjoy the process.)

If it feels too sticky when you are done, you can spread it out on some paper towels to dry for a while.

When your carrots are cool and you are ready to start mixing, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup mini Bundt pan by buttering and flouring it or spraying it liberally with non-stick spray.

Add all the cake ingredients to a large mixing bowl, including the cooled carrots and mix well.

Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula and beat for about two more minutes on high.

Divide the batter between the holes in your prepared mini-Bundt pan.

Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove the little cakes from the pan and allow to cool completely before even thinking of glaze.

I turned mine right side up on a mini muffin tin.

If upright nests are important to you, trim off the rounded bottoms of the little Bundts. Do with these what you must but know that you will get absolutely no judgment from me if you eat them all, one by one, right as you stand there slicing.

When you are ready to glaze, hold each mini Bundt with a thumb on the bottom and one finger in the little hole on top or vice versa. Turn the cake in the glaze until it is lightly covered. Place flat side down on your serving platter and push a little of the glaze into the hole.

Sprinkle each mini Bundt with colored coconut, making sure to pat some on the sides.

Fill the little holes with candied eggs or peanut M&Ms.

Enjoy!

If you are looking for more Easter or spring time Bundt inspiration, I’ve got a whole lot of lovely links right here.

• Babka with Bittersweet Chocolate Chunks from Laura at The Spiced Life
• Bunny Nest Carrot Mini Bundts from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Bursting-With-Berries Lemon Curd Bundt Cake from Felice at All That's Left Are Crumbs
• Carrot Tea Cake from Vonnie at My Catholic Kitchen
• Colorful Spring Bundt Cake from Varada at Varada's Kitchen
• Easter Bunny Bundt from Jane at Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Easter Egg Cake from Margaret at Tea and Scones
• Easter Pound Cake from Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Hot Cross Mini Bundt from Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• Lemon & Elderflower Bundt Cake from Maria at Box of Stolen Socks
• Lemon Coconut Bundt Cake from Kathia at Basic N Delicious
• Mini Lemon Spring Bundts from Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Pineapple Pale Ale Bundt Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze from Melanie at Melanie Makes
• Strawberry Lemon Bundt Cake from Lauren at From Gate to Plate
• Strawberry Poppy Seed Cake from Renee at Magnolia Days

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us baking Bundts each month, please send me an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.  If you are just a lover of Bundt baking, you can find all of our recipe links by clicking our badge above or on our group Pinterest board.