Roast is one of my favourite dinners and I love a lamb roast. We had a boneless shoulder from our butchers we thought we would stuff it. I wanted to stuff it with something that doubled up as side dish and this was perfect. It is half stuffing half vegetable side with all the delicious lamb juices. This recipe was adapted from a Martha Stewart Recipe which only got 2 stars but I thought it was really delicious. I really enjoyed the roasted garlic and shallots too as they were really caramelised.

Ingredients

• 1 boneless shoulder of lamb
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt
• 2 lemons, halved crosswise
• 6 banana shallots, peeled
• 1 head garlic, halved crosswise
• 8 sprigs fresh thyme
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary

For the Merguez Stuffing

• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bunch Swiss chard, leaves and stems separated
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 pound merguez sausage, casings removed
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, chopped
• olive oil for frying

Method

1. Marinate the Lamb: Spread the lamb open on work surface. Score the inside of the meat with a paring knife, making incisions every 3/4 inch and taking care not to cut all the way through the meat. Rub inside of lamb with 1 tablespoon oregano and 1 tsp pepper. Turn and rub outside with remaining tablespoon of oregano and tablespoon pepper; drizzle outside with olive oil, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Make the Merguez Stuffing: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare an ice-water bath. Add chard leaves and cook for 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, immediately transfer to ice-water bath. Cool, drain, and squeeze out excess water; coarsely chop.
3. Heat a good drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add garlic and chard stems; continue cooking until onions are translucent and garlic is fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer onion mixture to a medium bowl; set aside.
4. Heat another drizzle of olive oil to the pan and increase heat to high. Crumble sausage into skillet and cook, stirring, until sausage is brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add chard leaves, reserved onion mixture, rosemary, and thyme; stir to combine. Add panko, lemon zest and mint; remove pan from heat and season with salt and pepper. Spread stuffing on a rimmed baking sheet and let cool.
5. Roast the Lamb: Preheat oven to 180 degrees (fan). Season lamb with salt and bring to room temperature.
6. Spread the cooled stuffing over the scored side of the lamb. Loosely roll, like a jelly roll; using 5 pieces of kitchen twine, tie lamb at even intervals to secure stuffing.
7. Place the lamb in a roasting dish. Add lemons, shallots, garlic, thyme, and rosemary to pan and transfer to oven. Roast lamb for an hour.
8. Transfer lamb to a cutting board, reserving juices in pan, and loosely cover with foil; let stand for 10 minutes to rest.
9. Slice and serve with the roasted garlic lemon and shallot’s and your favourite side and gravy using some of the lamb juices to flavour the gravy.