Recipes: Slow-roast Persian lamb with pomegranate salad

This sweet, meltingly-tender lamb makes a show-stopping dinner party dish

gredients

FOR THE LAMB

• 4 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• juice 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 onion , roughly chopped
• 1 shoulder of lamb , weighing about 1.6kg, lightly scored

FOR THE SALAD

• seeds 2 pomegranates
• handful flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 100g bag watercress
• 1 small red onion , finely diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• flatbreads , to serve

  

  1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. In a small bowl, mix the molasses with the cumin, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Scatter the onion over a casserole dish or a deep roasting tin. Place the lamb on top of the onions. Pour the glaze over the lamb. Rinse the bowl out with about 200ml water, then pour it around - not over - the lamb.
  2. Cover the dish with a lid or the tin with a large piece of foil. Roast the lamb, undisturbed, for 3 hrs, then remove the lid or foil and continue to roast for 30 mins to give the lamb colour. When the lamb has had its time, pour off the juices, remove as much fat as possible, then pour the juices back over the lamb.
  3. Just before serving, gently toss all the salad ingredients together. Serve the lamb with its sauce, the salad and some warmed flatbreads.

  Jewelled couscous

  Cook 200g couscous and mix with 150g pomegranate seeds, a chopped handful mint, the juice 1 orange and 2 tbsp each olive oil and white wine vinegar. Serves 4.

  554 kcalories, protein 37g, carbohydrate 15g, fat 39 g, saturated fat 18g, fibre 2g, sugar 13g, salt 0,35 g