Mr SC loudly proclaimed to all who would listen that he does not care for lamb and that there was no way that he would try it... even if it was his first visit to Australia and my mum wanted to show off one of her signature dishes and no, it doesn't matter that we are famous for our lamb here in Australia.
Then on the final day of a holiday in beautiful Portugal and we stumbled * across a lovely eatery hidden down an alleyway in the old town of Porto. The (presumably) owner was very proud of his produce and despite us not speaking Portuguese we did understand that he was telling us we should definitely order a piece of the giant cut of meat he was showing us. I recognised it as being lamb, so excitedly said I would love a piece. Mr SC went for the slow roasted Octopus much to the dismay of the lovely restaurant owner.
About half a bottle of wine later, we were presented with two delicious looking dishes, a generous portion of tender looking octopus and an enormous portion of the sweetest smelling lamb I have ever encountered. Mr SC gestured to the waiter that the lamb was intended for him and with greedy eyes dug into the meal. "This in unbelievable" he exclaimed, "but its lamb?" I retorted... ever since that day (where I got a grand total of two tiny tastes of the amazing lamb), Mr SC not only eats, but enjoys lamb... however, only if he can be assured that it is in fact lamb (not mutton dressed up as the proverbial, which it turns out is what we think turned him off Lamb in the first place) and that is comes from a region with low rainfall (ie. Portugal/Australia) to ensure its not too fatty.
Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder Kebab
1.5kg lamb shoulder on the bone
2 chillies
2 lemons
a few sprigs of mint
a few sprigs of dill
150ml dry white wine
200g plain flour
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
175ml boiling water
100 g cherry tomatoes
1 handful of diced dill
2 tablespoons natural yogurt
a few torn mint leaves
Score the skin of the lamb shoulder, then season well and rub with olive oil
Place half the mint and dill on the bottom of a roasting tray, place the lamb onto then cover with the remaining mint and dill
Squeeze the juice of the lemons over the lamb and then add the lemons and chillies to the roasting pan
Pour the wine into the pan and then cover and seal well with aluminium foil
Bring the oven to 220 degrees Celsius, cook the lamb for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 150 degrees Celsius cooking the lamb for an additional 3.5 hours
Combine flour, baking powder and salt then rub in butter to create a breadcrumb texture
Slowly add water combining with your hands to form a soft dough
Divide dough into 4 balls and roll out till they are as thin as possible (2-3mm)
Heat a splash of oil in a heavy fry pan, then cook the flatbreads until slightly bubbly before turning on the opposite side for an additional few minutes
Stack the flatbreads and keep under a warm and moist tea towel
Roughly fork apart the lamb then place on top of the flat bread, add a few halved cherry tomatoes, a few dollops of dill yoghurt and some fresh mint leaves.
* I am a borderline obsessive holiday planner, we rarely stumble across anything as I have usually already read a lifetimes worth of information on the destination. This restaurant was recommended for its local produce and slow food and us "stumbling" upon it was somewhat premeditated on my part :)