The humble Sunday roast is getting a gourmet upgrade, with one of Australia’s most acclaimed chefs sharing the secrets to cooking tender roast lamb with all the trimmings at home.
Woodcut chef-owner Ross Lusted joined The Morning Show to reveal his professional tips for the perfect slow-cooked lamb shoulder, alongside indulgent potato gratin and roasted cauliflower, as his award-winning Crown Sydney restaurant relaunches its popular Sunday roast lunch.
Clay pot roasted lamb shoulder, oregano, coriander seeds and fried garlic
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Serves 4
Ingredients
1 Lamb shoulder 1.2 kg
Buttermilk brine:
600ml buttermilk
500ml warm water
60gr salt
5gr peppercorns
2gr fennel seeds
4 garlic cloves crushed
lemon zest only
Pot roasting ingredients:
1ltr chicken stock
60ml olive oil
6 pickling onions peeled
2 bay leaves
dried wild Greek oregano
Crisp garlic and fennel pollen crumb
50gr garlic fried in oil until golden
100gr panko crumbs cooked in butter until crispy
fennel pollen
dried oregano
fresh thyme leaves
Method
1. Start the preparation by dry roasting the peppercorns and fennel seeds until fragrant (1-2 minutes).
2. Cool slightly, then pound in a mortar and pestle. Combine the roasted spice with the other brine ingredients and allow to cool.
3. Trim the lamb shoulder removing any excess fat. Place the lamb in the brine making sure it is fully submerged. Leave the lamb in the brine overnight in the fridge.
4. Soak your claypot in cold water for approx. 6 hours or overnight.
5. Remove the lamb from the brine and pat dry, discard the brine. Ideally the lamb can be left for another day in the fridge to dry the skin.
6. Preheat your oven to 150C. Rub the olive oil over the dried lamb shoulder and season with a little sea salt and dried oregano.
7. Place the lamb shoulder in the pre-soaked clay pot or cast-iron baking dish making sure it is a snug fit.
8. Add the pickling onions, bay leaves and chicken stock.
9. Place the lid on the clay pot and place in the oven and cook covered for 2hours.
10. Remove the pot from the oven and carefully remove the lid. Reduce the oven to 110C if the pot is dry add a little water to have enough sauce at the end of the cooking process.
11. Return the lamb to the oven to cook for another hour uncovered to caramelise the skin, at this stage the meat should be falling of the bone.
12. Remove from the oven and set the lid back on the pot. Rest for approx. 20min and it is not ready to serve.
13. Before serving dust the lamb with the crisp panko crumbs, fried garlic, fennel pollen and herds
Potato and mushroom gratin, fried sage, black garlic butter
Serves 4
Ingredients
6 Dutch cream potatoes
10 Swiss brown mushrooms
100ml Cream
100gr Butter melted.
5gr Salt
2gr Pepper
100gr Black garlic butter
Vegetable stock
Fried sage leaves
Lemon zest
Black garlic butter
400gr unsalted butter | room temperature
100gr roasted garlic.
50gr black garlic
Salt to taste
150ml Vegetable stock
20ml Lemon juice
Method
1. Start the preparation, making sure the potatoes are at room temperature. Peel the potatoes and wash well. Select a cast iron pan or baking dish with a high side. Line the dish with grease proof paper.
2. Brush the paper with melted butter and start to lay the potato slices evenly overlaying just a little.
3. Continue until the base is completely covered. Drizzle a little cream, melted butter and season. Slice the mushrooms finely on the mandolin and lay the mushrooms as per the potatoes. Continue to create alternate layers of potato and mushrooms with melted butter and cream seasoning as you go.
4. The final layer of potato should be very even, place a garlic clove in the centre of the gratin, brush with butter and drizzle a little more cream before baking.
5. Bake the gratin at 160degC until the gratin is just set, if you cook the gratin to quickly it will split the cream. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
7. When you are ready to serve, place the cooked gratin in a 200deC oven until the top is golden brown. Serve with lemon zest, fried sage leaves and black garlic butter.
8. Black garlic butter – blend the room temperature butter with the roasted and black garlic.
9. Remove from the blender and set the butter in the fridge.
10. Heat the vegetable stock and start to emulsify the garlic butter into the stock to for a butter emulsion sauce.
11. Remove from the heat and season with salt and a little lemon juice.
Whole roasted cauliflower, pine nuts, and green raisins caramelized in pine
needle syrup and earl grey tea
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 whole cauliflower 400gr
40gr pine nuts roasted.
60gr green raisins soaked in earl grey tea preferable overnight.
30ml pine needle syrup or honey
60ml verjuice
4 leaves thyme / bay leaves
50ml olive oil
30gr butter
150ml vegetable stock
Cauliflower puree
350gr cauliflower – baked 40min 200deg
2 thyme stems
8gr salt
50gr water
For the puree
80gr shallot
10gr garlic
2 bay leaf
130gr milk – boil infuse.
50gr butter cold
Method
1. Prepare the cauliflower by removing the excess leaves and trim the stem. Rinse the cauliflower briefly and allow to dry on kitchen paper. Pre heat your oven to 200degC with the rack positioned in the centre of the oven.
2. Place the whole cauliflower in a pot and cover with stock, add fresh thyme, bay leaf, butter, olive oil.
3. Place in the hot oven and bake covered for about 20min. remove from the oven.
4. Drain and transfer the cauliflower head in a cast-iron skillet or any oven proof pan. Ladle a little of the cooking stock over the cauliflower then drizzle with melted butter on top. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and pepper.
5. Roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of your cauliflower, until golden.
6. Baste with cooking juice from time to time.
7. Check with a knife, if it slides in easily, then it’s cooked. You can grill for an extra 2 minutes if you want to give it a bit more colour but keep an eye on it, so it doesn’t burn.
8. Remove roasted cauliflower from the oven and rest.
9. Slice the roasted cauliflower and serve with the cauliflower puree and burnt butter, raisins, and pine nuts.
Cauliflower puree
1. Wash and trim the cauliflower. Cut the cauliflower into ¼ and mix with thyme, salt, and water; bake in a foil parcel lined with grease proof paper for approx. 40 min in an oven at 180degC.
2. Once the cooked cauliflower is ready, heat the milk with the shallots, bay and garlic.
3. Add the cooked cauliflower and cook for another 15 min.
4. Remove from the heat and blend well adding the cold butter slowly until a fine puree is achieved.
5. Heat the butter in a heavy-based pan, add the tea-soaked raisins and fry in the butter until the butter starts to brown, add the verjuice, and reduce by half.
6. Continue to move the raisins in the pan to colour, adding the needle syrup and pine nuts. The sauce should be nutty, sweet and caramelised.
