This recipe is slow food in its most literal sense because I have been preparing it for five days and the anticipation is building. The meat is in the oven slow cooking. A good time, I think, to share another of Chef Neil Forbes' Native Shetland Lamb recipes.

 Ingredients 

1 shoulder of native Shetland lamb 

150g sea salt

1 bulb of garlic, peeled and halved  

A few sprigs of thyme and sticks of rosemary

50ml rendered lamb fat 

4 handfuls of black kale

 Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning

Method 
5 days before cooking, place the shoulder of lamb in a tub and  rub in the 150g of sea salt, herbs and garlic.
Cover and place in the fridge.
Rub and turn the shoulder daily, giving it a good massage.
On the fifth day, run the meat under a cold tap for an hour to remove the salt.
Pat dry with a cloth and slow roast with thyme and rosemary for 4-6 hours at 140˚C until the meat falls of the bone.
Shred and set to one side, reserving the fat.
Peel and thinly slice the potatoes and arrange in a thick-bottomed pan, seasoning with salt and pepper and drizzles of lamb fat as you go.
When half the potatoes are layered in the pan, place the shredded lamb on top of the potatoes, avoiding the edges, and layer the remaining potatoes on top continuing to season and add lamb fat.
Roast in a hot oven (160˚C) for 20-25 minutes, flipping once or twice like a pancake.
Heat a dollop of lamb fat in a small pan and cook and the black kale until tender.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cut a slice from the cake and serve with the kale.

I shall be using Shetland Black Potatoes for my potato cake.

Back home today after five days in Turin taking part in Slow Food’s International Congress which ran alongside their Terra Madre food conference and their Salone Del Gusto food market. My head is full of
discoveries; new flavours, wonderful people and worldwide issues. Plenty of stories to fill my blog pages in the coming weeks. Overriding all that is the thought that I should be selling Reestit Mutton.

The Slow Food keeps a register called The Ark of Taste. It is a listing of traditional foods that have been side-lined by the mainstream food industry. They are just waiting to be discovered by those prepared to look outside the supermarket shelf or buy with one click on the internet. In simple terms the mutton is pickled in brine and air dried.

Familiar to Shetlanders, Reestit Mutton is one of Shetland’s traditional foods that are included in The Ark of Taste. I took some to Italy to be included as one of the offerings of Scottish Crofting Produce at Salone Del Gusto. Judging by the reaction of visitors from every continent, it has a worldwide appeal. Whilst I have no ambitions to feed the world, with the help of The Royal Mail, I can make it available to all UK mainland post codes. Next year I will endeavour use my own mutton but for now I can source it from my local butcher J & K Anderson