Roast Shoulder of Lamb With Couscous-and-Date Stuffing
Published February 2, 2013
Sam Kaplan for The New York Times; Illustration by Melinda Josie. Food stylist: Suzanne Lenzer. Prop stylist: Caroline Colston.
- Total Time
- About 7 hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 shoulder of lamb (about 4 ½ pounds)
Salt and black pepper
1 ¼ cups couscous
1 tablespoon orange-blossom water
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil
⅞ cup dates, stoned and cut into small pieces
⅓ cup raisins
½ cup blanched almonds, chopped coarsely
Optional, for garnish: 8 dates and 8 blanched almonds.
⅔ stick butter, cut into small pieces
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
47 grams carbs; 204 milligrams cholesterol; 1017 calories; 30 grams monosaturated fat; 6 grams polyunsaturated fat; 29 grams saturated fat; 71 grams fat; 5 grams fiber; 819 milligrams sodium; 49 grams protein; 21 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat the oven to 475. Put the lamb, skin side up, in a baking dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place in the oven. Immediately lower the heat to 325 and cook for 4 hours or until the skin is crisp and brown and the meat is moist and meltingly tender. Pour off the fat after about 2 hours and pour in ¾ cup of water.
- Step 2
For the stuffing, put the couscous in another baking dish, and add 1 ¼ cups warm water, a little salt, the orange-blossom water and cinnamon. Stir well. After about 10 minutes, pour in the oil, and rub the couscous between your hands to air them and break up any lumps. Mix in the remaining ingredients, except the butter, cover with foil and put in the oven with the lamb for the last 20 minutes or until steaming hot. Before serving, stir in the butter so that it melts and is absorbed evenly. With a fork, fluff up the couscous stuffing, breaking up any lumps. Add a little salt to taste.
- Step 3
For the garnish, remove the stones from each date and replace them with the blanched almonds. Serve the meat with the couscous stuffing garnished with these dates.
Private Notes
Comments
When you cook a shoulder low and slow, as this is, it will always end up being well done, but still meltingly tender. In fact you could cook it longer (boned or not) and at a lower temp (e.g., 275F) and would get a wonderful result. But the thing with a shoulder is that if you cook it only to medium rare, or if you cooked one as you would a leg (350F, 15 min/lb), it will be tough. It's due to the different muscle structures. Likewise if you low/slow roast a leg, it will be shoe leather .
Is that really “7/8” as in .875 of a cup of dates? Would it ruin it if I just used a cup? I can’t find my 7/8 measuring cup. Or is it “seven or eight” cups of dates?
How does 4 hours in step one add up to "about 7 hours" at the top of the recipe?
looking at the timing - this is not a 7 hour recipe, right? Am I getting my math wrong? It looks like 4 hours roughly in the oven with the couscous going in for the last 20 minutes or so.
Is that really “7/8” as in .875 of a cup of dates? Would it ruin it if I just used a cup? I can’t find my 7/8 measuring cup. Or is it “seven or eight” cups of dates?
Would prunes work instead of dates?