Yield: 6 servings

Recipe courtesy of Tom Kerridge

This is a great dish to cook when you have guests for Sunday lunch – just stick it in the oven and forget about it. The slow cook allows the meat to tenderize slowly and evenly, and you could cook it for even longer than the recipe states if you prefer.

• 1whole lamb shoulder
• 1head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
• 6large waxy potatoes (such as white boiling potatoes or red potatoes), peeled and thinly sliced
• 3medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1bunch thyme, leaves picked off from stems
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2cups chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 275°F.

Prep lamb:

Place the lamb on a cutting board and make a small slit in the top using the tip of a paring knife. Insert a garlic clove into the slit, pushing it down so it is completely tucked in to prevent it from burning while the meat cooks. Repeat with the remaining garlic cloves.

Prep veg:
Place the potatoes, onions and thyme leaves in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Shingle the potatoes and onions in the bottom of a roasting pan, overlapping them slightly so you fill the pan with an even layer. Set the lamb on top, skin-side up. Pour the chicken stock over the lamb.

Roast:

Roast until the potatoes are crisp on top and soft inside, 4 to 5 hours.
Remove the lamb from the roasting pan and set it on a cutting board. Loosely tent with foil and set it aside to rest for 20 minutes before slicing into pieces.

Serve the lamb, onions, and potatoes with French beans (or any green vegetable of your choice).