Boned Shoulder
Stuffed with Spiced Rice

You can replace the lemon zest and juice with orange if you like. This is also good served with lightly steamed spring greens and some seasoned yoghurt mixed with fresh dill.

 

Serves about 8

50g/3½ tablespoons butter

½ cinnamon stick

6 green cardamom pods

150g/5½oz basmati rice, washed and rinsed

20g/¾oz chopped almonds, pine nuts or pistachios

20g/¾oz raisins, dried cherries or dried apricots, roughly chopped

1 small carrot, peeled and coarsely grated

small pinch of saffron strands, soaked in 3 tablespoons boiling water

finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1.5kg/3lb 5oz boneless kid shoulder

2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil

1 large onion, roughly chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the butter in a large pan, add the cinnamon and cardamom and fry for 2 minutes. Add the rice, nuts and dried fruit and stir to coat, then cook for 1 minute. Add the carrot and cook for 1 minute more, then add 250ml/1 cup water, ½ teaspoon salt and the saffron and its soaking liquid. Cover and cook for 12 minutes, then add the lemon zest and juice, and check the seasoning. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7.

Open up the shoulder skin-side down on a board and trim and flatten it to open it out as much as possible. Spoon as much rice filling as will fit into the boned shoulder, reserving the rest for later. Roll up, tie with butcher’s string to secure and put into a roasting dish. Rub with the oil and season with salt and pepper, then roast in the oven for 35 minutes.

Turn the heat down to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4, give the meat a baste, then add the onion and 200ml/scant 1 cup water to the dish and roast for about a further 2 hours.

Add the remaining cooked rice to the dish, around the meat, and cook for a further 30 minutes until the rice begins to brown and crisp up and the shoulder is completely tender.

Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes, loosely covered with foil, before serving in thick slices with the rice.