Take roast lamb to new heights with a black olive, red onion and date crust. 

Recipe and photo: Emma Boyd

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium-small red onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced (I use a microplane)
30 black olives, pitted, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
8 dried dates (or 4 medjool), finely chopped
2 teaspoons sumac
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2kg lamb leg
2 cups beef stock (or veggie stock or water)

METHOD

Heat oven to 160°C. Put the olive oil, onion, garlic, olives, rosemary, dates, sumac and ½ teaspoon sea salt in a small bowl. Add the lemon zest, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and season with freshly ground black pepper. Mix well.

Put the lamb into a roasting dish, followed by the stock or water. Press the olive mixture over the lamb until the top side is covered. Cover the roasting pan with foil (joining 2 pieces together if required), ensuring a tight seal, and cook for 4 ½ hours or until the meat falls off the bone.

In the last 30 minutes of cooking, remove the roasting dish from the oven, set the foil aside and tip most of the cooking liquid into a saucepan. Turn up the heat to 180°C and return the uncovered meat to the oven to brown the crust. If it starts to brown too much, loosely cover it again with foil.

To make the gravy, bring the cooking liquid to a boil and cook until it has reduced to the consistency of gravy. Remove the lamb from the oven, shred and serve it with the gravy on the side.

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