Serves 6

Give your Easter joint a flavour of the Middle East using a delicious spinach and mushroom stuffing, spiked with mild curry spices. You will need a whole lamb shoulder that has only the blade removed to make a pocket for the stuffing and leaving the shank bone in for presentation. Ask your butcher to do this, or tackle it yourself using a very sharp boning knife. Serve with baby roast potatoes, sprinkled with more curry spice, or a dish of creamy pommes dauphinoise.

1 whole lamb shoulder, about 1.8-2kg
About 100ml olive oil

Stuffing:

100g baby leaf spinach
150g button mushrooms, preferably chestnut, chopped
2 fat cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp grated fresh root ginger or ginger purée
2-3 tsp mild curry spice
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 slice white or brown bread, crusts removed
1 medium egg white
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Trim the boned lamb shoulder of any large pads of fat. Then make the stuffing.
2 Blanch the spinach in some boiling water for 1-2 minutes until wilted, then drain in a colander, rinse in cold running water and, using your hands, squeeze quite dry. Cool and chop finely.
3 Heat about 4 tablespoons olive oil in a sauté pan and stir-fry the chopped mushrooms over a high heat for about 3 minutes until they begin to soften. Stir in the garlic and ginger, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste and continue cooking for another 3 minutes or so. Then mix in 2 teaspoons of the curry spice and the lemon zest and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove and cool.
4 Meanwhile, soak the crustless bread slice quickly in a bowl of cold water and squeeze dry. Break up the bread in a large bowl with a fork to soft crumbs. Mix in the chopped spinach and spicy mushroom mix, then bind together with the egg white.
5 Push the stuffing into the pocket in the par-boned lamb shoulder. Press the edges together and hold together with a couple of wooden cocktail sticks or a thin metal skewer. For a neat presentation, tie the shoulder 4 or 5 times into a roll using thin kitchen string. Brush some more oil on the lamb, sprinkle with a little more salt and remaining teaspoon of curry spice.
6 Leave to marinate while you heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. When it is ready, roast the lamb for about 10 minutes until it starts to brown, then cover it with a butter paper and reduce the heat to 150C/Gas 2 and slow roast it for another 1½ to 2 hours, basting it once or twice with the pan juices. Uncover again for the last half hour to finish browning, then remove and let the meat stand for a good 15 minutes. It won’t go cold, but this does allow the stuffing to firm and the meat become easier to carve. Slice quite thickly and serve with any meat juices trickled over. The meat should be meltingly tender.

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