This is a simple but impressive side dish, and can be eaten either hot or cold. It’s perfect served as a side dish with green vegetables or with one of the first veggie barbecues of the year. With the fresh, summery tastes of strawberries and mint, it doesn’t matter whether the sun shines or not!
- Heat the oven to 220C. Slash the fatty side of the lamb with a knife and rub in the oil and some salt and pepper. Place half on the garlic cloves in the bottom of a roasting tray along with the shallots. Place the lamb on top then add the rest of the garlic. Cover the roasting tray with foil making a tight seal all the way around/ Place in the oven then reduce the heat to 170C and cook for 4hrs. The meat will be melting away from the bones when it’s done.
- When the lamb is done remove it from the pan to a warmed carving plate and cover with 2 layers of foil to keep the heat in. Pour away as much fat from the roasting tray as you can.
- Cook the couscous as per the pack instructions. Stir in the strawberries and the crushed pepper corns and keep warm.
- Warm up the pan juices. Stir and scrape the pan so that all the meaty bits from the bottom are released but try not to break up the shallots. Squeeze the cooked garlic from 3 of the cloves and discard the rest. When everything is ready to serve, chop the mint and stir it into the couscous.
- Serve the meat pulled from the bones rather than sliced. Tip the shallots into a bowl and sieve in the pan juices, serve with a big spoon so you get plenty of juice to drizzles over your meat and couscous
