My First Pot Roast

I don't know if this qualifies as a pot roast, but I am always reading about them in North American stories - mothers seem to always be making it for cosy family dinners.

This was an invention born of necessity - our oven is pretty crappy and it can take up to 2 hours to roast a large leg of lamb properly. Shortly after we moved into this house, I had an oven technician come out to repair it, because I was convinced that there was a leak or a loose seal that was letting the heat escape. But no, he inspected it carefully and told me that it was just the condition of the device - charged me $80 and was on his way after ten minutes!

I was in the mood for a lamb roast but couldn't face a long cooking time. At the butchers, I found some small lamb shoulders, boned and rolled and tied with string. They had slivers of garlic and sprigs of rosemary inserted and a tiny amount of stuffing at the bottom. Now I am normally not one for pre-fab touches - I'd rather put my own flavourings on - but this looked pretty simple and the shoulder was small enough to cook fairly quickly.

I browned the roast on each side in my Le Creuset Dutch/French oven (I thought they were called Dutch Ovens, but I see on the Peters of Kensington site that they are French Ovens there too). I then added a little water - maybe 2/3 cup and while that came to the boil, I chopped three potatoes and added those around the meat. Reduced to simmer and left for about 3/4 hour, cooking away on the stove.

Absolutely delicious - moist and tender and just pink in the middle. I'll have to try this again. The potatoes were soft and the juices from the roast had formed a lovely sauce, with bits of intermingled breadcrumb stuffing.

Oh, and if anyone's interested in a Le Creuset very french oven, the 26cm round in blue is on sale at the Minimax sale commencing Monday. And an additional 10% off if you have an invite!