Spiced Lamb Shoulder with Punchy Zhoug Dressing

I first tried zhoug when I was a guest judge on MasterChef in 2019. It was expertly paired with a beautifully cooked rack of lamb by a contestant called Amal Hassan. I couldn’t believe the flavour of this punchy green sauce, and once the show had aired I contacted Amal to beg her for the recipe. I'm sharing it with you now - I hope you love it! As always, adjust the chilli levels to taste and depending on who you are cooking for.

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Ingredients

dried apricots 80 g (chopped)
mixed chillies 40 g (diced)
garlic cloves 2 (chopped)
fresh coriander 1 handful (chopped)
fresh parsley 1 handful (chopped)
lamb shoulder 1300 g
asparagus 100 g (sliced)
lemon 1 (juice)
folded flatbreads 4
sugar pinch
little gem lettuce 4
olive oil dash
ground cumin ½ tsp
ground coriander ½ tsp
breadcrumbs 80 g
ras el hanout 1 tbsp

Method

Prep the ingredients

Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan.
Finely chop the dried apricots. Deseed and roughly chop the fresh chillies. Roughly chop the garlic, fresh coriander leaves and stalks and parsley.

Make the zhoug

In a blender, blitz the sugar, garlic, fresh coriander and parsley, cumin, ground coriander with a dash of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar. Add a dash of water if needed.

Make the lamb marinade

Mix 2 tablespoons of the zhoug with the breadcrumbs, dried apricots and ras el hanout in a bowl. Reserve the rest of the zhoug to garnish.

Prep and roast the lamb

If you’re using a boned and rolled lamb shoulder, cut open the string and spread the lamb herb marinade inside. Roll and tie it back up. If you are using a whole lamb shoulder spread the lamb herb marinade on the outside.
Place the lamb on a wire rack set inside a roasting tray and season with salt and pepper. Pour around 200ml water into the bottom of the roasting tray.
Roast the lamb in the oven for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven, cover with foil and reduce the oven temperature to 160°C/140°C fan. Return to the oven and cook for a further 2½ hours. Rest under foil for 20–30 minutes before carving.

Make the salad

While the lamb rests, make the salad. Thinly slice the asparagus. Slice each baby gem in half lengthways through the core. Add the asparagus and baby gem to a bowl and dress with olive oil and salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan or griddle pan on a medium-high heat. Place the baby gem in the pan cut side down and cook for a few minutes until charred. Add the asparagus and cook for 3 minutes. Transfer from the pan.

Plate up

Heat the flatbreads in the same pan. Serve the lamb with the salad, flatbreads and the remaining zhoug to drizzle over. Enjoy!

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