I hope you enjoy this recipe booklet and timing guide that I put together! Of course, you can make every recipe individually, or you can take the plunge and throw a delicious dinner party with this entire menu. In my video tutorial, I teach you how to time everything out to ensure the timing of each recipe is perfect so you can enjoy as much time out of the kitchen as possible. A huge thing I’ve learned while working in restaurants is that make ahead components and prepping ahead of time make for a very smooth experience when serving guests.

Get an entire downloadable PDF booklet with 3 seasonal recipes and timing guide to throw an easy, stress-free October Dinner Party BELOW!

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This particular recipe is great for a family of 4. You can also turn the delicious jus into a gravy, which is next level. Or just drizzle that jus alll up in there.

What to pair this delicious lamb with? OH well don’t forget my spring salad! Or go with classic roasted potatoes – you can drizzle them with the jus as they finish baking in the oven for an extra burst of flavor. If you do want to make the spring salad, just combine greens, sliced radish, dill, mint and feta with olive oil and lemon juice.

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Maybe its just me, but roasted meats seem very intimidating. If you’re an avid reader/follower here, you know I say this all the time I think this is because nice cuts of meat are usually expensive, and you really only have one shot to *nail* it. It took me years to feel confident enough to even try to make a roast at home (if you’ve been following me for a while, you know that my first roast attempt led to me ultimately being roasted on the internet for cooking up a very pale roast chicken.) But now I’m here to help you feel confident enough to give roasting a try!!! And I also accept everyone who makes pale roast chicken!!! There is no roasting judgement here!!!

One of my favorite roasts to make for a special occasion is a beef tenderloin (highly recommend that you check out my recipe!) It’s essentially a long cut of filet mignon, that’s flavorful, silky and delicious.

Another roast I love is a chicken (obv) but today, I wanted to do something a little different. Lamb is a wonderful roast to make at home (especially for date night or another special occasion,) and there are a few different cuts to go with. For this particular recipe, we are going with a boneless lamb shoulder because it’s actually not that expensive and its a very forgiving piece of meat. Even if you overcook it a smidge, it will still taste tender and delicious. That being said, our goal is to not overcook or botch this lamb shoulder! And that’s why I’ve made a full video tutorial on how to make this. 

We’re going for a medium rare internal temp, which is typically 125-135 degrees F after resting. I pulled my lamb out of the oven when it hit 120 degrees F. If you are nervous about consuming medium rare meat (please give it a try if you’ve never done it) then feel free to go with a final temp of 145 degrees internally (remove at 130 or 135.) I don’t recommend going over that, but once again, do your research and figure out a temperature that you would like the most.

Preparing the meat:

There are two steps to this recipe that I consider to be the most important. Step 1: trimming the lamb and getting rid of any extremeeee excess fat or membranes. I’m not talking about a little white splotch here and there when I say excess fat. I’m talking about the large, thick pieces of fat that rest on large surface areas around the outside of the meat. We want to get rid of those and trim accordingly with a pairing knife. Step 2: trussing the meat. I know there’s probably a tried and true method of how to tie your lamb roast up, but I think you should know the reason *why* you’re doing it, instead of focusing on getting the knots or tie perfect. Trussing is tying the lamb up with cooking twine. I don’t care how fabulous your butcher is, no piece of meat will be perfectly or evenly sized. So, the goal when we truss (AKA tie up) the lamb is to roll it up into a uniform shape, and have the string hold the meat in that uniform shape while it cooks. Why? Because our lamb will cook more evenly if the roast is the same thickness throughout and also so the juices will distribute evenly throughout the roast, resulting in juicy meat. The only pieces that will be cooked a little more than the rest of the roast will be the ends, but if the roast is trussed to be the same thickness and height throughout, then the majority will be perfectly and evenly cooked. Now that you know the purpose of trussing the lamb, you can tie it up however you want, as long as its tight, taught and uniform in shape and size. The way I trussed it in my video was completely weird, but the result was fabulous.

I sliced my lamb in the middle to fold in some of my spice blend (that’s the green line you see running through the cooked lamb) but that’s optional. I then topped the lamb with a mint and parsley dressing (a little natural play on mint jelly) and then paired it with my favorite red lentil mash with labneh and chives as a side, which I highly recommend! It’s a very hands-off type of side dish and you can make it for large groups without doing much.

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It’s a spatchcock chicken (yes, spatch – cock – get the giggles out now!!!) which means we are flattening it out so its splooted on a sheet pan, which ultimately yields a faster cook time with the same juicy meaty results! Last year, I did a tutorial on how to roast a chicken the traditional way (linking here, pardon my horrifying instructional voiceover) but I’m gonna be honest with you: I love spatchcocking my chicken way more than I like the traditional preparation. I also think it looks so rustic and gorgeous splayed out with some root veggies. You *can* do this with a turkey, but I haven’t done that yet so I don’t want to advise you on that big Thanksgiving decision.

So our chicken is flattened out on a sheet pan — cool — but what about this pumpkin butter situation? Is this going to be pumpkin overload, because.. ew? I’m so glad you asked! When I typically roast a chicken, I love to put a mixture of herbs and butter underneath the skin to yield ultimate crispiness and flavor. With this special pumpkin chicken, I decided to make a pumpkin compound butter to put under the skin, which is essentially a mix of plain pumpkin puree, butter, rosemary, garlic and spices. It has a warm, nutty pumpkin essence to it, but the garlic and rosemary also mellow it out to give herbal, savory vibes so that it’s not too squash-y. If you served this to someone who doesn’t like pumpkin flavored foods, but they don’t mind eating squash, they would like this. If you served this to someone who hates pumpkin everything and hates squash (like my husband Sebastian,) they also still would probably like this. I’m only saying that because Sebastian liked it, so I’m not sure if that’s enough evidence to convince you and your pumpkin hating friend(s.) The pumpkin butter gives it an aromatic, spicy and nutty depth of flavor. That’s essentially all you have to know.

I obviously love the flavors of this dish, but one of my favorite things about it is how easy it is to make. I’ve made spatchcock chicken for our family a handful of times because it’s literally the easiest thing ever. It’s October — I’m already being basic, just let me say literally as many times as I literally want. Xx. Pumpkin spice.

Now that we know the flavors, let’s talk about preparing the chicken. I’m talking about before we even get to spatchcocking (which I show in photos below.) To brine or not to brine? That’s is the question. And the answer is really up to you. I’m lazy and brining is sometimes really a hassle. If you’re going to brine or if you want to brine, I would recommend trying out a dry brine. It’s a like halfway less annoying than a wet brine (who really owns a tub that would fit an entire chicken submerged in water!?), and essentially consists of rubbing the chicken in salt and letting it sit before cooking. Bon Appetit wrote a great article on how to dry brine, so check this out if you want to brine and do this 24 hours before. I will say, I’ve made this without brining the chicken and it was still great. Here’s my thought process: if you’re making this for everyday, you can totally skip the brine. If you’re making it for a special occasion, do the brine.

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