Roasted Neck of Lamb with Vegetables

16. October 2007 Lamb + Veal 0

Ah, fall. There were those weird couple of days when the weather turned muggy and humid, but it now feels like Mother Nature is catching up. The leaves are starting to turn and I’m beginning to feel too lazy to get up from my warm and cozy bed. All I want is to drink a full-bodied red wine and eat some lamb. After I start my day, that is.

This was an easy recipe from Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries. I’m not at all familiar with him, but the book design was so tempting that I couldn’t leave Strand bookstore without it. I initially wanted to use lamb chops instead of the suggested neck, but when I went to the halal store next door, they only had the neck left. I also picked up three chungus, the African eggplants they always have in stock.

Ingredients:
2 pounds neck of lamb, chopped
3 plum tomatoes, halved
2 baking potatoes, peeled, chopped
1 large eggplant, chopped
1 large red onion, quartered
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
5 sprigs of rosemary
olive oil, salt, pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400Âº. Season lamb with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. In a shallow roasting pan, toss all the ingredients together, except the lamb, with some oil, salt and pepper. Bake, uncovered, for thirty minutes.
3. Remove roasting vegetable from the oven, toss gently and add the lamb. Turn the oven heat up to 425Âº and roast for another twenty minutes, or until the lamb is golden brown and slightly pink inside.