Barbecued lamb shoulder with tomato and ’nduja sauce

Serves: 6
Course: Main Course
Cooking Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
Ingredients
  • For the marinade:
  • 3 sprigs rosemary, stalks removed
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
  • 100ml olive oil
  • Salt and black pepper
  • A small shoulder of lamb (about 1.5kg)
  • For the tomato and ’nduja sauce:
  • 2tbsp olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced
  • A small piece of ginger, peeled and shredded
  • 1 tin of tomatoes, 400g
  • Half a chicken stock cube, crumbled
  • 2 strips of orange peel
  • 100g ’nduja (broken up)
  • 250ml cream
  • A drizzle of honey
  • Salt

1 Blend the marinade ingredients.

2 Put the lamb in a plastic bag (a shopping bag is perfect). Add the marinade to the bag and squish it into the lamb so it gets into every nook and cranny. Put in the fridge for six hours or, preferably, overnight.

3 For the sauce: Put the olive oil into a pot and add the garlic and ginger. Cook gently for two to three minutes, then add the tomatoes, stock cube, orange peel and 'nduja.

4 Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 10 minutes, then add the cream and honey. Reduce the sauce gently by one-third, scraping the bottom of the pot from time to time to make sure it doesn't stick.

5 Season and whizz with a hand blender until smooth. This can be served warm or at room temperature.

6 Preheat your barbecue, if you have gas with two burners turn off the gas directly underneath the meat once it goes on. You will need a temperature of between 140 and 150 degrees. If you have charcoal, heat your coals then push them all around the edges and leave just a little coal underneath.

7 Check the lamb 15 minutes after you put it on to make sure the flame is not too hot. Continue to cook for a further hour and a half, turning the meat once or twice. A meat thermometer is very handy, you need to take the lamb to 65 degrees, this will be lightly pink. Rest for 20 minutes under foil before slicing.

8 To roast the lamb, rather than barbecue it, preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Put the lamb on a roasting tray with a little extra olive oil poured over the top and put in the oven for 90 minutes. Remove and allow to rest before slicing.

Paul Flynn

Paul Flynn

Paul Flynn is a chef, restaurateur and contributor to The Irish Times. He and his wife, Máire, run the Tannery restaurant and cookery school in Dungarvan, Co Waterford