NO BBQ? NO WORRIES.

Chuck your lamb in the oven instead, and go for a swim.

Not everyone in Australia has a barbecue that delivers great and unmitigated char and sizzle. I’m still training my new one to do something more exciting than steam-cook a steak. So I’m skipping the grilled lamb chops for now, and going for slow-cooked, fall-off-the-bone, meltingly tender roast shoulder of lamb instead. Because the oven does all the work and I can go for a swim.

Get yourself a nice big shoulder of lamb with a good covering of fat. Rub it with rosemary and garlic and leave it to take on the flavours. Roast it for six or seven hours until it’s all smooshy. That’s it.

Serve with tomato risoni (recipe below) and instant silverbeet (recipe below) if it’s dinner, or slap it onto flash-grilled pita bread and dollop with tzatziki or garlicky yoghurt if it’s lunch.

SLOW-ROASTED SHOULDER OF LAMB WITH ROSEMARY AND GARLIC

• 2 kg bone-in shoulder of lamb

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 sprig rosemary, chopped, (plus extra for baking)

• 2 garlic cloves (plus extra for baking)

• Grated zest of 1 lemon

• 2 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp cracked black pepper

• 150 ml white wine or water

Combine the olive oil, rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, sea salt and pepper, and rub all over the lamb. Cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

Heat the oven to 150C. Unwrap the lamb, arrange in the roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Throw in some more rosemary and garlic, for fun. Add 150 ml water or wine to the base.

Seal the roasting pan with kitchen foil and bake for 2 hours.

Reduce temperature to 110C and bake for 4 hours.

Remove the foil, raise the temp to 220C and bake for 20 minutes until browned.

Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 15 minutes ( cover with foil and a couple of tea towels) then drain off the fat.

Serve at the table, using two forks to pull the meat from the bone. It should fall away almost of its own accord.

Serve with lemon wedges and a big dish of tomato risoni. Serves 4 to 6.

Feel free to add a few onions, potatoes, heaps of rosemary and whole heads of garlic to the pan as well.

Which would end up looking more like this.

TOMATO RISONI

Soft, tomatoey, comforting and very good with roast lamb – or grilled lamb chops.

• 200 g risoni (rice-shaped pasta, aka orzo)

• 500 ml vegetable stock

• 400 g tinned tomatoes

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup

• 2 tbsp dill, chopped

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a fry pan and fry the uncooked risoni for 2 minutes, tossing well, until tanned.

Add the stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, honey, sea salt and pepper and simmer, stirring, for 15 minutes, or until tender.

Poor cook, she never gets to finish her cocktail because she’s too busy serving.

INSTANT SILVERBEET

I’ve over-cooked silverbeet all my life, I now realise. Here’s how to not do that.

Take a bunch of silverbeet, cut off the stems and save them for a veggie gratin another night. Wash the leaves.

Chiffonade the leaves into 2 cm ribbons, and toss them, still wet, in a hot dry pan or saucepan. Toss well for a minute or so until they soften.

Add butter or olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, sea salt and cracked black pepper. That’s it.

To chiffonade: flatten out the leaves and stack about four at a time on top of each other. Roll them up quite tightly and slice at 2cm intervals across the roll, and you’ll have lovely ribbons that will cook in an instant. Repeat with remaining leaves, obvs.

Thanks for reading! And special thanks to Terry Durack, for making sure the cook always gets a glass of pinot noir.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s about time, folks.