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Slow-roast Persian lamb with pomegranate salad

Barney Desmazery's slow-roast Persian lamb with a Halal shoulder: glazed with pomegranate molasses, cumin, lemon and garlic, roasted on onions for 3½ hours and served with a pomegranate, parsley and watercress salad and flatbreads.

Persian · Main · Easy · 6 portions · 230 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The dish is a 1.6 kg shoulder of lamb, which is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, served with shop-bought flatbreads, whose dough conditioner is worth a look.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Lamb shoulder: Lamb is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and lamb without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. Buy the shoulder from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Lamb.
• Flatbreads: Some industrial breads use L-cysteine (E920) as a dough conditioner; its source is not always stated. Choose bread without E920, or certified bread. See L-cysteine.

Ingredients

Lamb

• 4 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• about 1.6 kg Halal shoulder of lamb, lightly scored

Salad

• 2 pomegranates, seeds only
• handful flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 100 g bag watercress
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• to serve flatbreads, warmed

Method

1. Make the glaze. Heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. In a small bowl, mix the pomegranate molasses with the cumin, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic.
2. Glaze the lamb. Scatter the onion over a casserole dish or a deep roasting tin and put the lamb on top. Pour the glaze over the lamb. Rinse the bowl with about 200 ml water and pour it around the lamb, not over it.
3. Slow-roast. Cover with a lid or a large piece of foil and roast, undisturbed, for 3 hours. Uncover and roast for 30 minutes more to give the lamb colour.
4. Skim the juices. Pour off the juices, remove as much fat as possible, then pour the juices back over the lamb.
5. Toss the salad and serve. Just before serving, gently toss the salad ingredients together. Serve the lamb with its sauce, the salad and warmed flatbreads.

Allergens

gluten (flatbreads)

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Slow-roast Persian lamb with pomegranate salad' by Barney Desmazery (serves 6: oven at 160C/140C fan/gas 3; 4 tbsp pomegranate molasses mixed with 1 tsp ground cumin, the juice of a lemon, 1 tbsp olive oil and 2 minced garlic cloves; a roughly chopped onion scattered in a casserole or deep roasting tin, a lightly scored lamb shoulder of about 1.6 kg on top and the glaze poured over; the bowl rinsed with about 200 ml water poured around, not over, the lamb; covered and roasted undisturbed 3 hours, then uncovered 30 minutes for colour; the juices poured off, as much fat as possible removed and the juices poured back; a salad of the seeds of 2 pomegranates, a handful of flat-leaf parsley, a 100 g bag of watercress, a finely diced small red onion and 1 tbsp olive oil tossed just before serving; served with warmed flatbreads). We specified a Halal lamb shoulder and flagged the flatbreads' label for E920; the first two steps are each split at their natural break. Nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: lamb chops on a grill, not the finished dish from this recipe.