Over the last year none of us have been able to celebrate those really important
family moments. So in our household I've had two 18th birthdays, I've had graduations,
I've had my mum and dad's retirement, me and jules had our 20th wedding anniversary -- in
fact our 21st wedding anniversary as well -- so we haven't been able to do that. And now
that we can get back together again, I've created this incredible celebration meal that hopefully
will just kind of like bring everyone back together, kids everywhere outside, fun,
laughter, joy the whole thing. So it's all about having that one centerpiece on the table. And
I'm going all out with an epic rolled and stuffed slow-roasted lamb. It's a proper one-slice wonder
and the perfect dish to get ready in advance. And this is a beautiful 3 kilo shoulder of lamb.
I've got my butcher to debone it which they will always do for you, and they cut those bones up
so I'm gonna make the most amazing gravy. And by deboning it, it kind of opens it out like a book.
So by having that, now what we can do is stuff it with the most incredible stuffing. My inspiration
has actually come from these little babies, these are merguez sausages. You can get them in nice
butchers, sometimes with beef sometimes with lamb, sometimes both, you could use any great
sausage that you love, a cumberland, it could be a chorizo, anything that you like, right? So let me
just put this lamb away back in the fridge, and let's focus on the stuffing for just a minute.
So get yourself a hob on, medium-high heat. I've got a nice big tray here for the lamb.
Kiss the tray with a little olive oil and then the sausage, and basically squeeze it out
into little chunks. I'm literally going to pinch it, squeeze it out, pinch it, squeeze it out.
That's the beginning to our stuffing. So let me just wash my hands...
okay. So let's have a little look at what's going on here. Just use a spoon to break up the sausage,
it already smells amazing. Hi dad! How are you? What you cooking? A lovely
roast lamb for tomorrow, you know when all our friends and family are coming around? Oh
yeah. Do you want to help me? Yeah sure! Good boy, wash your hands and then get around here,
you can do some chopping if you like. So I've got two fennel. I want you to
keep the herby part, finely slice the stalky part, and roughly chop the bulby bit.
Okay. Did a bit more cooking in lockdown didn't you Buds? Yeah, it was fun. What I'm gonna do
now is put in this herb here, so sage, I'm just gonna tear it into the sausages. So if you finely
slice the stalky bits first big boy, those stalky bits are tougher, so if you go a bit smaller that
kind of helps the cooking. And then the bulby bit is more tender so you can go a bit more chunky.
Is that good dad? That's nice, yeah beautiful job.
I'm going to take this little opportunity to work beside my son because
I'm gonna to blink one second, and it'll be him that's going to university.
One thing I've learnt in lockdown is you have to cherish every single little moment,
the things that are important right? Little moments - we did some nice things in lockdown
didn't we, we did a bit of fishing together. Yeah. That was really nice. Yeah. Built camps.
Yeah. Right so I've done onions. So Buds come and throw some of those fennel stalks in here.
Lovely. You can throw my onions in as well, you can be the thrower-inner.
Last one, go on my son, then pick the whole board up and throw it in here. So what I want
to do tomorrow when we cook this lovely meal, is with the help of Buddy and maybe Petal and River,
we're gonna have a little area outside. Table outside, so we get beanbags, some cushions,
so it's a bit of a festival that's what we're after, a little bit of
fun. So Buds you happy to help me do that tomorrow? Mhm. So give that a little shake,
give it a stir. We'll let that cook for about 20 minutes until the veg is soft,
sweet, tender and delicious, and that's going to be the base for the most amazing stuffing.
Try and get me, haha!
Oh, it smells amazing! Can you see how that large volume of veggies has now literally halved? And by
doing that slow cooking you've condensed, you've concentrated all those beautiful flavours. So now
we can turn the heat up a little bit, and a very important ingredient now - a bit of white wine. So
about a glass, a good glass.
By putting the wine in, letting it kind of rehydrate all those vegetables and the sausage,
then cooking it away, you're just going to get the most amazing, amazing flavor. So,
let me get the last ingredient. This is some nice spongy sourdough bread, just about 250 grams.
I'm just going to slice it up into little kind of 1-2 centimetre chunks. We're gonna go in with the
crusts as well. If you've ever got a bread that's too dry and the crusts are just like concrete
then simply put it in a little bowl, cover it with water or milk, and just kind of scrunch
it like a loofah, right? And then after like 30 seconds pour away that excess water
and it will be much much softer okay, so you can bring it back to life even if it's really stale.
About 30-40% of all the bread we buy ends up in the bin, so anything that stops us wasting is a
beautiful thing. So let's just stir that through, the wine's now gone, and the bread will start
taking on some of the moisture from that stuffing. So what I'm going to do is turn that gas off,
lay it all out flat, and let this stuffing cool down. If we're going to roll that beautiful
shoulder of lamb we don't want to do it with anything that's hot. Can I give you a kiss?
Every time I kiss you you just run away.
So this stuffing has cooled down beautifully, let's get that lovely shoulder of lamb out.
So you can see it's opened out like a book, now we're going to stuff it. So I'm going to move it
like this - if there's any little kind of fatter bits you can just score it slightly
so it kind of holds on to our little stuffing. One thing I want to do
is get my hands involved, obviously they're clean. Just scrunch it up,
it's gonna really soften up that bread and that will completely change the texture,
and you'll get almost a creaminess out of the bread stuffing. Hey Buds! Yeah? Come and give me
a hand. Okay! I've got messy hands now, so Buds if you can get the salt and pepper - sprinkle
some salt and pepper on there from a height, nice generous one, all over the whole thing.
That's quite high... not necessarily that high, that'll, yeah that's it. Beautiful.
Lovely. And then we've got this lovely stuffing that I'm going to kind of pack
in here like that, so you can pack it quite dense. So I've put it on about half. Buds do you mind
just putting that in the sink for me? Yeah sure. The next bit you're going to love and you're very
important for my success here. Actually it's really nice to do this together. So now we've
seasoned it and put the stuffing in I'm going to basically fold it over like this -- and it will
fall out so don't worry about it -- as it falls out we'll try and re-pack it in again. Now Buds
if you grab that string there. So this is very very simple to do, just get like seven or eight
pieces of 60 centimeter string, put it underneath and then basically we'll put it an inch apart all
the way along. So I always start in the middle, so I tie it one, two, and then if you pull it tight
like this it doesn't really let go, but then I can come back in and put that second knot in there.
And then I just cut it off like that. Chefs and butchers will make it look super flash
and super perfect, please do not worry about it. As long as it gets tied up and you secure that
meat that's the only thing that matters. Can I do one? Yeah. Go for this one yeah.
Okay so keep it roughly the same distance, tight as you can. Buddy's muscles are developing at the
moment and I'm trying to get him to eat his fruit and veg every single day. I do eat my
fruit and veg every day, a whole plate of fruit every morning. Now our only job here is just to
secure the meat and keep that stuffing in. Once it starts cooking it will set in shape so you're
gonna be able to serve it just one slice wonder. You'll have the stuffing, you'll have the meat,
it's going to be absolutely gorgeous. Okay so in this tray which we did the stuffing
I'm going to put all the bones from the shoulder of lamb, and it's really handy if your butcher
cuts them up for you because you're going to get loads and loads of flavor out of that.
So that can go onto that trivet of bones. Any of these little bits now we can collect,
and they'll go into the bottom of the tray, and they'll get gnarly and sticky and they'll
basically make the most amazing juices. Now, if you can grab us a garlic Buds.
I'm literally just gonna break this up into little chunks and leave the skin on. This is new
season's garlic so it's a little bit softer, but basically this just gets broken into this tray.
Any extra little sage leaves, a little bit of olive oil, and that'll just protect it.
So I'll cover this now buds if you can cover that for me, and that will go in the oven tomorrow for
about 4 hours until super tender, it's gonna be absolutely delicious, so one great job done.
All right go on, go and have a play. Okay bye! Thank you for your help you've been very useful.
It's the morning of my celebration feast. So I've been preparing this beautiful celebration
meal for my family and loved ones. I did most of the work yesterday which is fantastic,
and that's what it's all about right? I want to prepare a meal which is nearly all done,
so when my friends and family get here I can be spending more time with them, because at the end
of the day it's about being together right, that's what it's all about. So let me get you up to speed
I've done this beautiful shoulder of lamb that's been stuffed and rolled. Now let's just talk
about that for a second. It's gonna take about 4 hours to cook, okay. I'm gonna put it into an oven
at full whack, and immediately turn it down to 150 degrees Celsius which is 300 Fahrenheit okay?
So you've got that high heat that immediately goes down to sort of low and slow. 4 hours of cooking,
I'll baste it halfway through give it lots of love, and also if your guests are half
an hour late it doesn't really matter, if it cooks an extra half an hour it doesn't matter.
Okay so lamb's in the oven. That's really pretty. Mum I'm bored, can I run off?
This room smells incredible! That is the thing
about these lovely slower cooked cuts of meat. This has had just over 4 hours
and I've basted it halfway through and just gave it a little few splashes of water. In return
for that you'll get the most moist succulent meat. Look at this, and give it a little baste.
Get a fork, stick it in here, and if you can effortlessly just pull that out,
right. That's when you know you've got something that is groundbreakingly delicious! Chef's
treat - oh my lord. Falling apart, wow. Absolutely delicious. Little kiss of the juices, put a few
of those crispy bits on top. That will stay hot now for a good hour and a half out of the oven.
So the lamb has been resting beautifully. Pull the string off, make sure you get all of it,
and it should all come out in one. There you go, so we'll get rid of that.
Guys, have a little look at this. Come on. Do you mind if I serve yours up and then I can put
everything in the middle of the table? Yeah sure! Is that leg or shoulder? Shoulder. Oh!
My favourite. Who wants the end bit? I love the end bits! I want the end bit! We all want
the end bit! And who's this for? This is for Gennaro, the king of the table.
Dad this one's for you. Well done me darling!
Here nanny. Oh wow, oh that looks fantastic! Right enjoy everyone, tuck in.
It's really good. River would you want some gravy? Yeah, oh on there, now on here, and on here.
River why have you got two plates? Because this is one for the lamb, and this is one for potatoes.
Guys if I may say, I've been dreaming of this moment for a long long time,
it's so nice to have us all back together again, cheers everybody! Love you all!
Life is about memories and today we've made a memory.
Thank you dad. I could do a whole paragraph and it's never as good as dad's. Dad does three words.