Summer in a bowl.

You can make many a tasty meal from this thrifty cut. Lamb shoulder is traditionally reserved for the slow cooker, casserole pot or a slow oven roast, where after several hours cooking the meat falls apart beautifully, thereby lending itself to wintery meals and comfort food.

With this in mind, imagine my surprise when I cooked a lamb shoulder in my sous vide from SousVideTools.com and it came out as tender as rump. I’m not kidding. The sous vide literally transformed this hard working cut into something tender, juicy, delicate and far more expensive tasting.

In anticipation of warmer weather (here’s hoping fellow Brits) I decided not to go down the wintery route but to give the lamb a summery European slant instead. Rubbing the lovely Cumbrian meat from Udale Butchers all over with a wet marinade of sun-dried tomatoes blended with anchovy fillets and olive oil before cooking seasoned the meat perfectly and scented it when eaten.

For its accomplishment it made sense to keep up the warm European feel. Cooking the giant cous cous with a bit of my Greek Blend for a herbal and fresh background flavour, and finishing the dish with crumbled salty feta, peppers, globe basil, Greek extra virgin, lemon and fragrant and spicy pink peppercorns.

We carved the tender meat into generous slices and lay the hot lamb on top of the warm cous cous, creating a visually vibrant dish that tasted as bright and fresh as it looks. Even the serving dish in its Mediterranean blue splendor (half inched by my mother from my great aunts house on my behalf) played its part in bringing the summer to the dining table today.