Ingredients:
1 shoulder of lamb about 2kg, bone in
2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
2 carrots, roughly chopped
3 celery sticks, roughly chopped
2 red onions, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves
1 tbsp plain flour
2x500g tubs of chicken or vegetable stock, or use stock cubes/your own stock
Fresh mint for gravy and garnish

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 220C, fan 200C, gas 7. Using a small, sharp knife, make small incisions over the top of the lamb. Snap little sprigs off the rosemary and poke into the incisions. Season the lamb with sea salt and pepper, drizzle well with olive oil, then rub the seasoning into the meat. Place the carrots, celery, red onions and garlic cloves into a large roasting tray, then pop the lamb on top. Roast in the hot oven for 15 minutes, then turn down to 180C, fan 160C, gas 4 and continue to roast for another 11⁄2 hours.

2. After this time, remove the lamb from the oven and transfer to another roasting tray and return to the oven to cook for a further 30 minutes or until tender and falling apart.

3. Meanwhile, spoon off most of the fat from the tray of vegetables, then put the tray on the hob over a medium heat. Sprinkle the flour into the tray and use a wooden spoon to mix in and scrape up all the sticky goodness from the bottom of the tray. Holding the tray steady, use a potato masher to roughly mash up the vegetables, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and leave to thicken.

4. When the lamb is ready, remove from the oven, cover with kitchen foil and a clean tea towel and leave to rest until ready to serve. Once the gravy is of a good consistency, carefully pour the contents of the tray through a course sieve into a jug. Use a wooden spoon to push all the goodness of the vegetables through the sieve, discarding what’s left behind. Roughly chop the mint leaves and stir half through the gravy.

5. Shred your lamb using a couple of forks, then serve with crushed new potatoes and spring greens (or vegetables of your choice) and drizzle the gravy over the top. Scatter with a few remaining mint leaves.