Mary Berry’s French Slow-roast Lamb with Ratatouille
As seen on her BBC2 series, Simple Comforts, Mary Berry's melt in the mouth lamb is slow-cooked on a bed of ratatouille, for a French-inspired Sunday roast.
From the book
Simple Comforts
Heart-warming comfort dishes from the nation's favourite cook
With easy, family-friendly recipes as well as all-out weekend feasts
Including chapters full of indulgent bakes and sweet treats
Introduction
This all-in-one slow roast with ratatouille-style vegetables is great for feeding a crowd. It does need a long time in the oven, but this means that the lamb is beautifully tender and you have time to pop to the pub or go for a walk!
Catch all of your favourite recipes from Mary’s new series, Simple Comforts, here.
Ingredients
| large leg or shoulder of lamb, about 2kg (4lb 6oz), bone in | |
| 2 | garlic cloves, sliced into slivers |
| 3 | onions, thickly sliced |
| 2 | red peppers, deseeded and chopped into large pieces |
| 1 | large aubergine, chopped into large pieces |
| 1 x 400g (14oz) | tin of chopped tomatoes |
| 300ml (10fl oz) | beef or chicken stock |
| 2 tbsp | sun-dried tomato paste |
| 1 tbsp | chopped fresh thyme leaves |
| 3 | fresh bay leaves |
| 1 tbsp | honey |
| 2 tsp | paprika |
| salt and freshly ground black pepper | |
| For the rub: | |
| 2 tbsp | chopped thyme leaves |
| 1 tbsp | paprika |
| 2 tbsp | olive oil |
Method
1. You will need a large, deep roasting tin. Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/Gas 7.
2. For the rub, put the thyme, paprika and oil in a small bowl, mix well and season. Make holes in the joint of lamb with a small sharp knife and spread the rub all over it. Insert the garlic slivers into the holes and season the lamb with salt and pepper. Put the lamb in a large roasting tin and add the onions around and underneath. Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes.
3. Lower the oven temperature to 160°C/140°C fan/Gas 3. Scatter the peppers and aubergine around the lamb. Pour the tomatoes into a bowl, add the stock, sun-dried tomato paste, thyme, bay leaves and honey, then stir to combine. Pour all this into the roasting tin over the peppers and aubergine and stir, then sprinkle the paprika over the vegetables.
4. Cover the whole tin with foil and return to the oven to roast for about 4 hours until the lamb is tender and falling off the bone.
5. Shred the meat or carve into slices. Drain any fat from the top of the sauce and serve with the ratatouille vegetables alongside.
