THE SLOW-ROAST SHOULDER OF LAMB THAT THINKS IT'S SMOKED BRISKET.

And fair enough, too. Even the chimichurri thinks so.

This is what happens when you really want pull-apart smoked beef brisket with chimichurri sauce, but you don’t have a smoker. Oh, and you have only a shoulder of lamb.

Two strikes like that, and most people would be out. But no, instead I was reminded of the mercurial Italian chef, Massimo Bottura, who brings both a child-like joy and the world view of an artist to his cooking.

He once devised a dish titled “A Potato Waiting To Become A Truffle” by imagining a humble little potato dreaming of becoming a glorious truffle - but effectively, he kept the potato as a potato, even if he did fill the skin with souffle and turn it into dessert. “We set out to celebrate the truffle,” he writes in his book “Never Trust A Skinny Chef” (Phaidon). “But we ended up celebrating something else entirely different: humility.”

So now we have the slow-roast shoulder of lamb that thinks it’s smoked brisket. First, you coat the lamb shoulder with a brisket-inspired spice rub - cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, etc - and cook it low and slow, allowing the spices to infuse the soft, tender meat.

Lamb is fatty enough to be able to cope with the spices, and the slow-cooking results in a wonderfully dusky, dry, bark-like crust over the pull-apart meat.

Then whip up a super-simple chimichurri of parsley, coriander, oregano, garlic, vinegar and chilli, and that’s pretty much it.

It’s a great way of turning a very heart-warming slow roast – normally something you might reserve for winter – into a spring-adjacent dinner or weekend lunch.  Lighter, spicier, and more salad-friendly.

If you can get that spice rub all over the lamb for a couple of hours, or even overnight in the fridge, then all to the good. If not, then as you were, nothing to see, just keep on moving.

SPICE-RUBBED, SLOW-COOKED SHOULDER OF LAMB

• 1.8kg/2kg bone-in shoulder of lamb

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 200 ml red or white wine or water

• Lemon wedges and chimichurri for serving

THE SPICE RUB:

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 2 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar

• 1 tbsp sea salt

• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Mix the spices and seasonings together.

With the tip of a sharp knife, make stabbity-stab-stab incisions in the meat, about 1 cm deep, to allow the spices to infiltrate.

Rub the lamb all over with olive oil, then rub the spice mix all over it as well.

Leave for an hour or two, or refrigerate overnight.

Heat the oven to 150C, and bring the lamb to room temperature if need be.

Place lamb in a roasting tray lined with a sheet of baking paper.

Add wine or water to the base, and drizzle the lamb with extra olive oil.

Completely seal the roasting pan with kitchen foil, and bake for 2 hours.

Reduce the temperature to 120C and bake for a further 2 hours.

Remove the foil, raise the temp to 200C and bake for 20 minutes or until browned.

Remove and rest in a warm place, covered, for 10 minutes, then use two forks to pull the meat from the bone; it should fall away as soon as you look at it.

Serve with lemon wedges and a bowl of chimichurri sauce. Serves 4.

# Serve with boiled spuds, mash, or a mess of green beans in tomato sugo, or if it’s a warm day, tomato salad. A snappy little green salad is a must.

# Oven temps are conventional. For fan-forced ovens, drop to 20C lower.

CHIMICHURRI SAUCE

• 2 cups (packed) parsley leaves

• 2 cups (packed) coriander leaves

• 1 fresh green chilli, chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, grated

• 1 tbsp pickled jalapeno chillies, minced

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 1 tsp sea salt

• Half tsp crushed black peppercorns

• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 4 to 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Place parsley, coriander, chilli, garlic, jalapeno, oregano, sea salt and pepper in a blender and pulse until it comes together in a mossy green mess, leaving a little of the natural coarseness.

Add the vinegar and whiz very briefly to combine.

Add the olive oil and whiz briefly once or twice to bring it all together, without turning it into a puree (unless you want a puree, of course).

Taste and adjust vinegar and olive oil, and store in the fridge, covered, until needed.

If you’re really only doing this to have left-overs (I see you), consider this Mexican tinga recipe walk-through:

Shred the cooked meat from the bone and set aside. Cook up a chopped onion until soft, add a can of chopped tomatoes, 400 ml stock or water, a tablespoon of chipotle in adobo, 2 tsp cumin, a cinnamon stick, sea salt and pepper and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the shredded lamb, and warm through, adjusting the ratio of liquid to meat so it’s sort of a thick stew. Serve with rice, coriander, avocado, lime or lemon wedges and maybe some quickly pan-fried tortillas.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for taking one look at the lamb ready for the table and quietly going to open the Farr Rising 2022 Gamay instead of the one he had been planning on.

I would 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, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to the continuing strength and resilience of First Nations people, communities and cultures.