This recipe from My Paris Kitchen is laid out as quite the production. The salsa verde actually sounded great, and the puffs are supposed to be great – and this time around, I even had the flour I needed in the pantry.
I purchased the lamb shoulder, but could only find boneless. I ended up cutting it in half, because I just didn’t need that much food. It wasn’t fatty, which worried me, since the braise would need some to help break down the meat as it cooked. I also didn’t find parsnips, so I subbed in a golden beet.
The meat gets rubbed with anchovy and garlic – for about 6 hours, then braised for 1.5 hours covered in some water and white wine (this for the full recipe – I kept the timing anyway). It is supposed to get flipped a few times, and I even cut it in half to get more contact with the liquids. Hmmm…
The other component of the recipe I was making was the braised vegetables. Mine were fingerling potatoes, carrots and the golden beets. All cut to a similar size, and braised in chicken broth, seasoned with thyme. They didn’t take that long, and I thought they would be a good side for the roast. We’ve made braised vegetables/potatoes before, and I always wonder why I don’t make them more often.
The meat turned out tough – not the expected meltingly yummy, shredded lamb that David shows in his book. It was actually tough, even after 1.5 hours. I’m sure the herby salsa verde would have been great, but really wouldn’t have changed the texture. I did serve it with a bit of pepper relish, which was a nice touch.
Surprisingly, this was a hit for some. The vegetables are fabulous! But just didn’t turn out the way it looked in the book.
But, the flavors were good, and the vegetables were great. Now to figure out what to do with the other half of that roast!
dulceshome 
It looks great, Candy! what a bummer about the lamb being so tough. I ended up using lamb leg, because it’s what I’d bought (on sale and then froze it until I needed it). I usually roast lamb leg for Easter so I just modified the cooking instructions to fit that. I was looking at that photo from his book, though, and thinking how tasty that browned fork-shredded lamb shoulder looked. As for the sauce verte, I encourage you to revisit it with the braised veggies! That sauce really made the dish for us. It was quite good without it, but DANG TASTY with it. I wish I had a suggestion for the other half of that roast–I hate when I don’t want to eat something anymore but feel like I need to repurpose it since it was time-consuming and relatively costly.
Candy, I would try a lamb stew which cooks forever and usually ends up being tender. However, your plate does look inviting and the veggies were really good cooked this way. Happy Easter.