Slow-Roasted Mutton with Ras-El-Hanout, Honey & Garlic
Looking to cook your lamb a little differently this weekend? Our Director of Food, Joey O’Hare, is here to give you some major inspo with this slow-roasted mutton, with honey and garlic. Yum!
Once slow-roasted, sticky and charred, these fantastically deep, sweet and complex flavours are cut through with a tangy feta yogurt sauce, and served with a zingy herby tabbouleh that’s bursting with parsley, mint, coriander and lemon.
Ready to get cooking? Here’s the recipe!
The Details & Ingredients
Prep time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 5 hours
This recipe serves 4-6.
Ingredients for the mutton.
1.2 - 2 kg of blade of mutton
6 cloves garlic
2 red chillies
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp olive oil
2 heaped tbsp ras-el-hanout
1 heaped tbsp za’atar
2 tsp sea salt
Ingredients for feta yogurt.
1 block feta
½ cup natural yogurt
½ lemon, juice only
The Method
Remove the mutton from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees.
Trim away excess fat or tough skin. Place the joint ‘fat-side-up’ in a suitably sized/snug roasting tray and score the fat in a criss-cross fashion.
Mince the garlic and finely dice the chilli, then in a small mixing bowl whisk together the garlic, chilli, honey, olive oil, ras-el-hanout, za’atar and sea salt to make a thick slurry.
Pour and pat this roasting marinade all over the scored mutton, then place in the preheated oven for a total of 4-5 hours with the following adjustments along the way. Keep the mutton uncovered for the first 2 hours. After 2 hours add a splash of water to the roasting tray and cover with tin foil. Return to the oven for a further 2 hours. After 2 hours - now 4 hrs in total - remove the tin foil. Press the mutton with a fork to see how its texture is getting on; it will likely need another hour. Return the mutton, uncovered, for a final hour. If things are looking dry add a generous splash of water. After 5 hours in total remove the mutton from the oven and allow it to rest under loosely covered tin foil.
Drain away any excess fat if you wish, then shred the mutton and toss it in its own dark roasting juices to coat and moisten. It can be served straight from the roasting tray if you wish - this one is all about flavour!
While the mutton is roasting you have time to make your side dishes and feta yogurt. A herby tabouleh is a brilliant accompaniment. For the feta yogurt, whizz up the feta with ½ cup natural yoghurt and the juice of ½ lemon until smooth. Pop in a serving bowl and hold in the fridge until needed.
Roasted spring onions and simple steamed greens dressed lightly with olive oil make lovely accompaniments too. Enjoy!