Spiced Lamb Flatbread Feast
Andi Healey
Web Manager
Slow-cooked spiced lamb shoulder, pulled apart at the table and piled onto warm flatbreads with whipped feta, pickled chillies and fresh herbs. Easter dinner for people who find a single roast a little too tidy.
This is not a quiet dinner. It is a board in the middle of the table, piled with pulled lamb that has been slow-cooked for hours in ras el hanout, preserved lemon, and a little harissa until it gives up completely. Alongside it: a cloud of whipped feta, a jar of pickled chillies, a heap of fresh herbs, and a stack of warm flatbreads. Everyone helps themselves. The conversation gets louder. Someone reaches across someone else. This is exactly the point.
The sharing format feels very right for Easter - relaxed, abundant, nothing precious about it. But do not be fooled into thinking it is casual cooking. The spice blend and the slow braise are doing serious work underneath. The lamb comes out deeply savoury, faintly smoky, with the brightness of preserved lemon cutting through the richness every time you take a bite.
You can have it in the oven the night before and reheat it gently on Easter Sunday, which means you are actually free when your guests arrive. The accompaniments take twenty minutes. The flatbreads can be made ahead or bought. There is very little last-minute stress, and it looks like you have been cooking all day. Which, technically, you have - just not while anyone was watching.
A Le Creuset Signature Round or Oval Casserole is ideal for the braise: heavy enough to maintain the low, steady heat the lamb needs, and handsome enough to go straight from oven to table. If you have a tagine, this is the recipe to use it for.
Ingredients
- For the Lamb
- 1 bone-in lamb shoulder, approximately 2 to 2.5kg
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp ras el hanout
- 1 tbsp harissa paste (rose harissa if you can find it)
- 1 preserved lemon, flesh discarded, skin finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 400ml chicken or lamb stock
- 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp honey
- Sea salt and black pepper
For the whipped feta
- 200g feta cheese, crumbled
- 150g full-fat Greek yoghurt
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more to finish
- 1 small clove garlic, finely grated
- Zest of half a lemon
- Black pepper
- For the quick-pickled chillies
- 4 to 6 mild red chillies, finely sliced into rings 100ml white wine vinegar 1 tsp caster sugar Half a tsp fine salt
To serve
- 8 flatbreads (shop-bought is absolutely fine, or see Cook's Notes for a simple recipe)
- Large bunch of fresh mint
- Large bunch of flat-leaf parsley
- Half a cucumber, finely sliced
- Pomegranate seeds
- Extra harissa, to serve at the table
- Good olive oil, to drizzle
Method
- When you are ready to cook, preheat your oven to 160°C fan (180°C conventional / Gas 4). Place the lamb in your casserole, pour the stock and tomatoes around it, and drizzle over the honey. The liquid should come about a third of the way up the lamb. Put the lid on.
- Braise for 4 to 4.5 hours, until the meat is completely tender and pulling away from the bone. Check once or twice during cooking; if the liquid is reducing too aggressively, add a splash more stock or water. In the last 30 minutes, remove the lid to let the top colour and the sauce reduce to a sticky, glossy consistency.
- While the lamb cooks, make the pickled chillies. Combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl and stir until dissolved. Add the sliced chillies and leave to pickle for at least an hour. They will keep in the fridge for several days.
- Make the whipped feta. Put the crumbled feta and Greek yoghurt into a food processor and blitz until smooth and light, scraping down the sides as you go. Add the olive oil, garlic, and lemon zest. Season with black pepper (it is unlikely to need salt). Transfer to a bowl, drizzle with a little more olive oil, and set aside.
- When the lamb is ready, remove it from the oven and leave it to rest in its casserole, lid on, for 15 to 20 minutes. Then use two forks to pull the meat into rough chunks directly in the pot, mixing it through the reduced braising juices. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Warm the flatbreads: either in a dry cast iron pan for 30 seconds each side, or wrapped in foil and heated in the oven. Pile everything onto the table: the lamb in its casserole, the whipped feta, the pickled chillies in their jar, the fresh herbs, cucumber, pomegranate seeds, and a pot of extra harissa. Let everyone build their own.
Chef's Tips
- Make ahead: The lamb braises beautifully the day before. Cool it in the pot, refrigerate overnight, and reheat gently with the lid on at 160°C fan for 45 minutes. Skim any fat from the surface before reheating. Everything actually improves overnight.
- Simple flatbreads: Mix 300g self-raising flour with 200g Greek yoghurt and a pinch of salt into a soft dough. Divide into 8 balls, roll out thinly, and cook in a dry cast iron pan over a high heat for 90 seconds each side until charred and puffed. Stack under a clean tea towel to keep warm.
- Scaling up: This recipe doubles well. Use two lamb shoulders and a larger casserole, or cook in a deep roasting tin covered tightly with foil.
- Spice level: Rose harissa is milder and more fragrant than regular harissa. If you want more heat, add a finely chopped fresh red chilli to the spice paste.
- Leftovers: Pulled spiced lamb is exceptional in a toasted pitta with yoghurt and cucumber the next day. Also works very well stirred through pasta with the braising juices as a sauce.
- No bone-in shoulder? A boneless lamb shoulder works too. Reduce the cooking time by about 30 minutes and check earlier.
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