Rolled Lamb Shoulder w Baba Ganouj and Tomatillo Jam
I harvested a lamb at work this week, so we have been making use of some fresh cuts, as well as putting up sausage and freezing roasts for the winter.  We hosted an event for livestock farmers, and we fed them this rolled lamb shoulder. If you’re interested in learning how to de-bone a shoulder like this, check out my book.

For the lamb:

1 lamb shoulder, boned out completely, with breast meat still attached
ground sumac root
3 cloves garlic
balsamic vinegar
dried herbs such as rosemary, thyme, and basil
coarse ground mustard

Lay the shoulder out, inside facing up. Rub balsamic into the meat, then sprinkle the sumac and herbs and garlic over top. Roll the shoulder, beginning at the neck meat, and ending at the breast. Rub with mustard, then generously add salt and pepper. Tie every two inches with butcher twine. Refrigerate overnight.

When ready to roast, place the rolled shoulder on a sheet pan and allow to rest while you preheat the oven to 350F. Roast until the internal temperature is 120F. This will be medium rare in the center.

Cool, and slice thinly before serving.

For the Baba Ganouj:
3-4 eggplant
1 whole corm garlic, cloves split and de-skinned
2-3 lemons
tahini
salt and pepper

Wash the eggplant, remove the stems, and halve lengthwise. Drizzle olive oil on a sheet pan, and place the eggplant halves on the tray, skin side up. Halve all the garlic cloves and put them on the pan, too. Roast until the eggplants are soft and smushy, and the garlic is roasted and brown in places. Cool completely on pan.

In a food processor, combine the eggplants (with their skins), garlic, lemon juice from all lemons, and zest of at least 1 lemon, salt, and pepper. Add tahini until you reach your desired consistency and taste.

For the Tomatillo Jam:
1-1/2 lb. tomatillos, husked and roasted whole
4 C. cane sugar
1-1/4 C. distilled white vinegar
zest and juice from half an orange
some dried thyme
2 envelopes pectin

In a large saucepan, combine the tomatillos, sugar, vinegar, orange juice and zest, and thyme. Bring to a boil and allow the sugar to dissolve. Remove from heat, and whisk in pectin. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture thoroughly to process tomatillos and knock out any clumps of pectin. Allow to cool to room temperature, than place into refrigerator to cool completely and set. It’s best to do this the day before serving.

We served the lamb with sourdough rolls, okra, pepper and bean pickles, and allowed guests to help themselves to the baba ganouj and tomatillo jam spreads.