Slow-Cooked Spiced Lamb with Apricot, Almond, and Pomegranate Herb Relish, Lemony Yogurt, and Roasted Winter Vegetables
A cozy, celebratory Middle Eastern-inspired feast: a whole lamb shoulder rubbed with warm spices and slow-roasted until it falls apart, crowned with a jewel-like relish of dried apricots, toasted almonds, pomegranate, and fresh herbs, with a cool lemony yogurt sauce. It's served with cumin-roasted cauliflower, honey-roasted rainbow carrots, and garlicky shredded Brussels sprouts.
Yield: Serves 6–8 · Active: 1 hour · Total: 4½–5 hours, mostly hands-off (plus an overnight dry brine) · Best in North America from fall through winter, when pomegranates, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts are in season · Best eaten: early evening
Your Game Plan
The night before: Salt the lamb, and make the pickled onions.
About 5 hours out: Rub the lamb with spices, and get it into the oven.
About 1 hour out: Make the yogurt sauce and herb relish, and prep the vegetables.
About 45 minutes out: Roast the cauliflower and carrots.
While the lamb rests: Sauté the Brussels sprouts, and set out the platter.
Ingredients
Slow-cooked lamb
1 bone-in lamb shoulder (4–5 lb)
1 tbsp Baja Gold sea salt, for the dry brine
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
6 garlic cloves, grated
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, thickly sliced
1½ cups bone broth
Juice of 1 lemon
Apricot, almond, and pomegranate herb relish
½ cup unsulfured dried apricots, finely chopped
½ cup almonds, toasted and chopped
¼ cup pistachios, toasted and chopped
½ cup pomegranate arils
½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh mint, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
Optional: 1 tbsp finely chopped preserved lemon
Lemony yogurt sauce
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (or sheep's milk yogurt)
Zest of 1 lemon, plus 2 tbsp juice
1 small garlic clove, grated
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp fresh mint or dill, finely chopped
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
Quick-pickled red onion
1 red onion, thinly sliced
½ cup raw apple cider vinegar
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
Cumin-roasted cauliflower
1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
Honey-roasted rainbow carrots
1½ lb rainbow carrots, halved lengthwise
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp raw honey
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
Garlicky shredded Brussels sprouts
1 lb Brussels sprouts, thinly shredded
2 tbsp grass-fed ghee or the lamb's pan fat
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Squeeze of lemon
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt and red pepper flakes
To finish: sumac, fresh herbs, and flaky sea salt
Method
Dry-brine the lamb (the night before). Salt the lamb all over, and refrigerate it uncovered overnight.
Pickle the onion. Toss the sliced onion with the vinegar and salt in a jar, and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight.
Season the lamb. Heat the oven to 300°F. Take the lamb out of the fridge 45 minutes ahead. Mix the cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, pepper, garlic, and olive oil into a paste, and rub it all over the lamb.
Slow-roast. Scatter the onions in a roasting pan or Dutch oven, set the lamb on top, and pour the broth and lemon juice around it. Cover tightly with a lid or foil, and roast 4–4½ hours, until the meat pulls away from the bone at the touch of a fork.
Brown the top. Uncover, raise the oven to 425°F, and roast 15–20 minutes more, until the top is crisp and deeply browned. Rest 20 minutes, loosely tented.
Make the yogurt sauce. Whisk all the ingredients together, and refrigerate until serving.
Make the herb relish. Stir all the ingredients together. Make it within an hour of serving, so the herbs stay bright.
Roast the vegetables. Once the lamb is out, toss the cauliflower and carrots with their oils and seasonings, and roast on two sheet pans at 425°F for 25–30 minutes, tossing once, until caramelized. Add the honey to the carrots for the last 10 minutes.
Sauté the Brussels sprouts. Heat the ghee in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the garlic for 30 seconds, then add the shredded sprouts and a pinch of salt. Sauté 4–5 minutes, until bright green and lightly browned at the edges. Finish with lemon and chili flakes.
Serve. Pull the lamb into large pieces on a warm platter, and spoon some of the pan juices over it. Top with the herb relish, a drizzle of yogurt sauce, the pickled onion, and a dusting of sumac. Serve the vegetables alongside, with more yogurt sauce and relish at the table.
Storage
Lamb: refrigerated up to 4 days in its juices, or frozen up to 3 months.
Yogurt sauce: refrigerated up to 4 days.
Herb relish: best the day it's made, but it keeps up to 2 days.
Roasted vegetables: refrigerated up to 4 days.
Pickled onion: refrigerated up to 3 weeks.
Leftover transformations:
Pile leftover lamb into lettuce cups or grain-free flatbread with yogurt sauce and pickled onion.
Toss it with the roasted vegetables and greens, for a warm salad.
A note on honey: The honey on the carrots is roasted, so it's no longer raw. Honey shouldn't be given to babies under 12 months.
Nourishment Notes
Pasture-raised lamb — complete protein, heme iron, zinc, B12, and CLA, plus gelatin from the bone-in, slow-roasted shoulder.
Dried apricots — beta-carotene, potassium, iron, and fiber.
Almonds and pistachios — vitamin E, magnesium, and B6.
Pomegranate — punicalagins, vitamin C, and potassium.
Parsley, mint, and cilantro — vitamin K, vitamin C, and aromatic compounds traditionally used to support digestion.
Yogurt — protein, calcium, and live cultures.
Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts — glucosinolates (the precursors to sulforaphane and DIM, which support estrogen metabolism), vitamin C, and vitamin K.
Rainbow carrots — beta-carotene in the orange carrots, anthocyanins in the purple, and lutein in the yellow.
Cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and sumac — warming spices traditionally used to support digestion, and sumac adds a tart, lemony brightness.
Raw apple cider vinegar — acetic acid for blood-sugar balance.
For your cycle: The lamb's heme iron, zinc, and B12 make this especially restorative during the menstrual phase, and the pomegranate, herbs, and lemon bring vitamin C to help your body absorb that iron. The cauliflower and Brussels sprouts support estrogen metabolism in the luteal phase.
Sourcing
Lamb shoulder — pasture-raised and grass-fed, bone-in, from a local farm, US Wellness Meats, or White Oak Pastures
Bone broth — homemade from lamb, beef, or chicken bones (see my Broths 101), or Bonafide Provisions (organic, sold frozen)
Dried apricots — organic and unsulfured (they'll be brown rather than bright orange)
Almonds and pistachios — organic: unpasteurized Spanish almonds, like Terrasoul's; Sicilian or California pistachios
Pomegranates, cauliflower, carrots, Brussels sprouts, red onions, garlic, herbs, and lemons — organic, from a farmers' market
Yogurt — raw from a farmer you know and trust, or organic and grass-fed, with live cultures, like Bellwether Farms sheep's milk yogurt
Spices (cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, Ceylon cinnamon, sumac) — organic and non-irradiated
Preserved lemon (optional) — homemade (see my Moroccan Lamb Shank Tagine)
Raw honey — organic, local, and unfiltered
Raw apple cider vinegar — organic, with the mother (Bragg)
Grass-fed ghee — from 100% grass-fed cows
Extra virgin olive oil — organic, single-estate, harvest-dated, in dark glass
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt; Maldon for finishing
— Anna aka Food Marshall