Food and beer match

Al Brown’s Roasted Lamb Shoulder Recipe + Moa Beer Match

This Saturday is Al Brown’s Burning Lamb food, drink and arts festival. Get in on the action with the chef’s roasted lamb shoulder recipe with chimichurri, perfectly paired with limited-edition Moa’s Burning Lamb IPA

This Saturday in a secret location in West Auckland, Al Brown’s inaugural Burning Lamb festival of food, drink, music, art and performance is being held (for more information, click here).

Especially for the festival, the legendary Kiwi chef has partnered with Moa Brewing Company to create a special limited-edition beer that takes flavour inspiration from the Burning Lamb festival. Available exclusively at select Liquorland stores nationwide, Al Brown & Moa Brewing Co. Burning Lamb IPA (RRP $7.99, 500ml) has a mint finish that's designed to match perfectly with lamb.

To celebrate the festival, Al Brown has shared with Toast readers his Roasted Lamb Shoulder Recipe – the perfect match for the Al Brown & Moa Brewing Co. Burning Lamb IPA.



AL BROWN'S ROASTED LAMB SHOULDER WITH PARSNIP & CARROT HASH, AND MINT CHIMICHURRI

"Roasted lamb with roasted vegetables, peas, carrots, gravy and mint sauce will forever be near the top of the list, when it comes to evoking wonderful eating memories of growing up," says Al Brown. "Mum's repertoire of evening meals that she prepared and cooked was like most 50 years ago, pretty stock standard. Hands down, roast was unquestionably my favorite dinner. Served at least once a week, I never grew tired of eating a roast. The taste and texture of a roast is its trump card, however the delicious scent that a roast permeates throughout the house as it cooks is also a thing of beauty. This following recipe pays tribute to the past, but feels more like a nod to future. I like it as it's still relatively old-school in the sense that it is still a roast, but is so much lighter. Gone is the gravy and the dripping-roasted vegetables. In their place is a spice rub on the lamb and a mint chimichurri that offers up depth of flavors and wonderful cut-through. The carrot and parsnip hash are boiled, then mashed, then cooked in a skillet to caramelize and add the texture that traditional roasted vegetables bring to the table. I love the simplicity of this dish…"

STEP 1: ROASTED LAMB SHOULDER

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 lamb shoulder – bone in
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 tablespoons fennel seeds – roughly ground 
  • 2 tablespoons sumac
  • 1 tablespoon flakey sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • ¼ cup canola oil

METHOD:

  1. Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees
  2. Coat the lamb shoulder with the oil. Mix the ground fennel seeds, sumac, flakey sea salt and fresh black pepper together. Now rub the spice mix in and all over the lamb shoulder
  3. Pour the quarter cup of canola oil into a roasting pan then add the lamb shoulder. Place in the oven and cook for 1 hour at 180 degrees, then drop the temperature down to 160 degrees, and cook for another 2 hours
  4. Remove and rest for at least 20 minutes

STEP 2: MINT CHIMICHURRI

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 ½ cup fresh mint leaves 
  • 1 cup parsley
  • 1/3 cup oregano
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, dry roasted and ground
  • pinch chili flakes 
  • 100ml olive oil
  • 50ml red wine vinegar 
  • 1 ½ teaspoon sugar
  • flakey sea salt and ground black pepper

METHOD:

  1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender, and blitz to a wet paste consistency
  2. Refrigerate until required

STEP 3: PARSNIP AND CARROT HASH

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 kilogram parsnips (peeled and sliced)
  • 1 kilogram carrots (peeled and sliced)
  • flakey sea salt and ground black pepper
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 80 grams butter

METHOD:

  1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees
  2. Add the chopped parsnips and carrots to a saucepan. Cover with water and season with salt
  3. Place on the heat, bring up to the boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook until soft through, about 25 minutes. Remove from the heat, strain off the water, and spread out on an oven tray. Place the tray in the pre-heated oven for ten minutes to dry the cooked vegetables out
  4. Remove from the oven, and while still hot, roughly mash together. Season liberally with flakey sea salt and fresh black pepper. Hold, and if not using immediately, keep refrigerated
  5. To make the hash, place a large cast iron skillet or similar on medium, low heat. Once hot add half the oil and half the butter. Spread out the mashed parsnip and carrot in the hot skillet. Cook for ten to fifteen minutes. Prior to flipping the vegetables to crisp the other side of the hash, drizzle over the rest of the oil and dot the rest of the butter on the top side before turning with a spatula.  The hash should be golden and slightly crisp. Keep warm

STEP 4: COOKING AND SERVING

INGREDIENTS:

  • roasted lamb shoulder
  • parsnip and carrot hash
  • chimichurri

METHOD:

  1. Carve and divvy out the lamb along with the parsnip and carrot hash. Spoon over liberal amounts of the chimichurri. Serve just as is or with a simple dressed green salad on the side
  2. Pour yourself a cold glass of the Al Brown & Moa Brewing Co. Burning Lamb IPA with a mint finish designed to perfectly match with this dish

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