Sumac is sold as a dark red powder and used both in cooking and as a dye. It is fairly bold in its lemony flavour so you might want to tread lightly when spicing your shoulder of lamb. It’s too distinct a spice to spoil by mixing it with other flavours, so I’d suggest using only salt and pepper with it.

A shoulder of lamb is perfect for a slow roast and needs only its aromatics and olive oil to see it on its way. I cooked it covered in a double roaster with a lid, but you could cover it with foil if you like.

It’s super easy to cook and can pretty much be left alone once it’s in the oven, though you do need to brown it first.

(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients

1 shoulder of lamb

Olive oil to coat

Sumac, to taste

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 200℃.

Season the shoulder with salt and pepper and sprinkle fairly liberally with sumac powder.

Drizzle olive oil over.

Brown the meat on both sides in olive oil.

Put the lid on or cover tightly with foil and remove to the preheated oven.

After 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 170℃ or 160℃ and continue cooking for about three hours or until the meat is fall-apart tender but not dried out. Serve it with the pan juices after scooping off excess fat. DM

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed on a platter by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.