Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/180C/350f
rub 2 teaspoons of the paprika and the
coarse sea salt over the lamb and place in a
large roasting pan.
remove the mint leaves from the stalks and
reserve. Place the stalks along with the thyme
in with the lamb and pour on the boiling
water.
Place a sheet of baking parchment loosely on
the lamb, then seal tightly with foil and bake
for 21/2–3 hours.
after 2 hours, place the grapes, the remaining
paprika, pomegranate molasses and olive oil
in an ovenproof dish. Cook in the oven with
the lamb for about 30 minutes or until the
grape skins begin to wrinkle.
remove the grapes from the oven and leave
to cool. Coarsely shred the mint leaves and
stir into the roasted grapes. the lamb is
ready when it begins to shrink from the bone.
to check, fold back a corner of the foil and
paper from the roasting dish and test it with a
knife – it should be soft and tender.
once the lamb is ready remove the foil and
paper and leave it to cool a little. remove
the flesh from the bones and either tear or
cut it into chunks, discarding excess fat, and
keep warm. reserve the cooking juices and
keep warm.
to serve, place about 75 g lamb meat on each
plate in a slight mound. spoon the roasted
grapes and their juices over the lamb. Place
a dollop of yoghurt on each plate, scatter
with the walnuts and pomegranate seeds
and drizzle with the reserved lamb juices.
This salad Is quite a quirky mixture of flavours and textures but one that
Works really well. Serve it warm for the most flavour. One lamb shoulder will give you a lot of meat, probably enough for 15 or so tapas style dishes, but here are the quantities for just 6 portions in total. The lamb meat will keep in the fridge, covered tightly, for up to 5 days. Pomegranate molasses is a sour yet sweet syrup and gives a rich fruit flavour to the grapes; you can buy it
online. A rich, nutty Palo Cortado goes really well with the lamb as it carries the flavoursome fat of the meat along your tongue and gives both itself and the meat length of flavour.