There’s a regal-ness to lamb that speaks of tradition and lavish celebration. It signifies generosity and extends open-handed hospitality. Although our festivities might be smaller and more intimate this year, roast lamb uphold its glorious reputation as the feasting table’s centrepiece. Because of my great love-affair with Middle Eastern food, I’ll be making Roast lamb with saffron honey.

While slow roasting requires time and patience, the preparation is hardly any effort at all. After the initial overnight marination, it’s into the oven for a few slow hours under a lazy eye. The reward? Meltingly tender meat that you can cut with a spoon. Because slow roasted lamb yields willingly, I prefer to pull the meat into uneven chunks rather than neatly carved slices. It’s not the kind of food that requires precision or exactness. I then swoosh the meat in the glossy gravy, making sure every mouthful sings with sweetly scented saffron honey sauce. The flavourings are earthy and deep, imbued with desert warmth and soulful spices. Helpful here, is a bread of some sort, maybe warm Turkish milk bread or fluffy flatbreads, to mop up golden-hued oil slicks.

Roast lamb with Saffron Honey

Marinade

• 60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
• 45ml (3 tablespoon) honey
• 60ml (1/4 cup) lemon juice
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 10ml (2 teaspoons)  cumin seeds, toasted
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon dried red chilli flakes
• a pinch of saffron threads, steeped in 1 tablespoon hot water
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt flakes
• freshly ground black pepper

• olive oil, for roasting
• 2.5 -3kg free-range leg of lamb
• 3 red onions, peeled and sliced into wedges
• 1 garlic bulb, halved
• 3 bay leaves
• 125ml (1/2 cup) chicken stock
• salt and cracked black pepper