Seven Hour Saltbush Lamb

The dinner party was a great success on the food front. Here's the recipe for the lamb. It is really good - and I think it counts as "Aussie" tucker even without the shake of lemon myrtle. Saltbush is grown in places with salinity problems, and this flavour-infused meat is unique to Australia. I kept the flavourings minimal because of that, but this is a great method for regular lamb, too. I like to do it with lemon, garlic and oregano for a Greek touch. Stephanie Alexander has a similar recipe for a French style slow cooked lamb with haricot beans.

Seven Hour Saltbush Lamb
A large leg of saltbush lamb
5 cloves of garlic
olive oil
herbs (2 bay leaves, 3 large sprigs rosemary, 1/2 tsp dried lemon myrtle)
1 cup dry white wine

Brown lamb in the olive oil, in a frying pan. Transfer to crockpot, or a heavy casserole dish.
Deglaze pan with wine, pour over lamb. Throw in peeled garlic and herbs. Put on lid, and place in 120C oven - or run crockpot on low - for 7 hours. Lamb will come out meltingly tender, falling off the bones. Carve and place on serving platter. Serve reduced and strained juices on the side.

Notes: Turn it over once or twice during cooking if possible, and add a little stock or wine if it looks like drying out. I find the crockpot keeps it a lot moister than the oven. It's good to use the crockpot as then you have the oven free to make roast veggies.


Cooking today: Not much. I'm still not very well, and we still have plenty of stuff to use up. We'll eat out of the freezer this week, I think.