Slow-Cooked Lamb with Sugar Free Mint Sauce
Lamb. An Easter specialty. The traditional centrepiece on Easter Sunday. Cooked right, it is melt-in-your-mouth tender and delicious, and here in the UK at least, it is usually accompanied by a sweet and sour fresh mint sauce. It’s a match made in heaven.
I wanted to stick with tradition this year. So here is my Easter lamb recipe. The one I will always go back to in the spring, whether it is on Easter Sunday or not. The lamb is cooked for 6-8 hours, making it super soft and yummy. It has a very simple herb rub, making it a really easy and quick dish to put together. And I discovered, much to my wallet’s joy, that it can be just as successful using the less popular and much cheaper mutton. Slow-cooked, mutton tastes exactly like lamb, but is much more economical (and ecological!).
And the sauce – that sweet and sour sharpness that beautifully complements the meat. Usually high in sugar, my version is totally sugar free, super easy and takes literally seconds to make.
So for a low-fuss, minimal-prep, sweet-and-delicious healthy Easter lunch that is sure to impress but isn’t too hard on the budget, this is my go-to. I hope it will become yours, too.
Look out for the recipe for the Parmesan-coated swede fries we served this with – they will be on the website tomorrow!
A delicious Easter (or general springtime) lunch. Soft, tender, delicious, and with a gorgeous sugar free sweet-sour fresh mint sauce. It takes only a few minutes to prep and is gentle on the pursestrings, especially if you swap the lamb for mutton!
- 1-1.5 kg lamb shoulder or leg (or mutton leg)
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 4 tbsp fresh thyme
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt & pepper
- 30 -50g (about 1-1 and 3/4 oz) fresh mint (1 large bunch) leaves picked and stalks discarded (or add to the lamb for a bit more flavour)
- 4 tbsp apple cider vinegar or red/white wine vinegar, or to taste
- 2-3 tsp xylitol or 1-2 drops liquid stevia, or to taste
- 4 tbsp boiling water
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Brown the lamb all over in a hot pan or a hob-safe slow cooker insert for a few mins. This is totally optional, but gets a nice colour and deeper flavour if you have time to do it.
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Place the lamb in your slow cooker and add the fresh herbs. Pour over the olive oil, season, then pour in a little water (no more than 1/2 cup). Cook on Low for 6-8 hours.
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To cook in the oven, place lamb in a lidded stockpot/casserole pot (brown for more flavour if you like), add the herbs, olive oil, seasoning and a little water (about 3/4 cup) and cook in an oven preheated to 170C/325F/gas 3 for 5-6 hours.
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Trim off any larger bits of fat and allow to rest while you make the mint sauce. (The lamb will be falling apart at this point - don't worry, it's what you want!)
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For the sauce: blitz the mint leaves in a blender or food processor until shredded. Add the vinegar and xylitol or stevia, a little at a time, tasting constantly, until you feel you have the right balance of sweet and sour (you'll probably need most if not all of both, but you may prefer a little less vinegar or sweetener as a personal preference). Slowly drizzle in the boiling water until you have a liquidy sauce, pulsing to combine everything well.
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Serve the lamb with the mint sauce. A side salad or some steamed greens drizzled in olive oil, and/or some root vegetable fries or mash are all delicious accompaniments to this dish.
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