A long lead time and a lot of love make this recipe a show-stopper.
By James Norton

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Once in a while there comes a time to feast, and feast seriously. When that time arises, have you considered a delicious spread of roasted, crisped, and deeply enriched pulled lamb spread across freshly made hummus?

The joy of this recipe (which is somewhat adapted from the original in the Maydān: Recipes from Lebanon and Beyond cookbook) is that it leverages a great deal of prep time in a way that produces a really delicious result, day of, with relatively little work. Much of what you're doing here - preparing chickpeas, making a spice blend, roasting and broiling lamb - can be frontloaded a couple of days before the event. And if you're willing to compromise on the hummus (let's be honest; Baba's is pretty dang good), you can serve up your feast with just a quick 20-minute or so reheat and enrichment process on the day of your meal.

Here's the "let's talk it through" version of the recipe, which might be helpful if you look at the five sections below and trance out into a panicked state of semi-consciousness.

You're taking dry chickpeas (good news: these are nearly free) and soaking and then boiling them so they're ready to blend into hummus. You're making a delicious spice blend called Syrian Seven Spice. You're covering a large lamb shoulder with salt and sugar, refrigerating it, rinsing it off, rubbing it with your spice blend, slow roasting it, grilling or broiling it to give it some texture and char, and then pulling it. And to serve, you're making hummus (not terribly hard, but a food processor is a must) and rewarming your pulled lamb with harissa, butter, orange and lemon juices, and salt. None of these steps are particularly challenging or at risk of failure; they're just a journey that you need to cheerfully commit to when you take on this beautiful dish.

I've made this recipe with both lamb shoulder and lamb leg, and the shoulder has a richness and pliability that makes it the better choice. But should you only be able to find leg of lamb in the quantity you need, you can still make it work.

FIRST: CHICKPEAS

Makes about six cups
1 pound (455g) dried chickpeas
3/4 tsp baking soda

Soak chickpeas in a large pot for 24 hours in 1 1/2 quarts of water.

Drain chickpeas, return to pot, add 3 quarts of water and the baking soda. Bring to a boil, partially cover pot, and boil gently until chickpeas are fork tender, almost falling apart. Timing varies - 30-45 minutes should do it.

Let them cool in the cooking liquid, and store in the liquid in the fridge.

SECOND: SYRIAN SEVEN SPICE

Makes about 3/4 cup
1/4 cup ground black pepper
1/4 cup smoked Spanish paprika
2 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom

Stir these things together and store them. Voila!

THIRD: LAMB SHOULDER (PART 1)

Bone-in lamb shoulder, 4.5-5.5 pounds (or 3-4 pounds boneless)
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Syrian Seven Spice

Rub the lamb shoulder with the salt and sugar, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 3 hours.

Rinse shoulder under cold water, pat dry, rub it all over with the Syrian Seven Spice.

Sous vide at 200 F for 18 hours or roast for 5-6 hours (until very fork tender) at 275 F in a covered baking dish.

Remove shoulder from oven; cool. Grill or broil your roast until outside is crisped and seared, about five to seven minutes. Pull with two forks (as you would with pulled pork) and refrigerate.

FOURTH: LAMB SHOULDER (PART 2)

This step takes place on the day of service, just before you want the feast to hit the table.

Place 4 cups of pulled lamb meat in large saucepan and add 1/2 stick (115g) butter, 1/2 cup of harissa, 1 cup of fresh orange juice, 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, and 1 Tbsp of salt.

FIFTH: HUMMUS BIL LAHME

Serves 10-14

1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 6 lemons)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic
4 cups cooked, drained chickpeas
1 cup tahini (preferably pourable/light)
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt or to taste
1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid from chickpeas
Ground sumac to garnish

Reheat your chickpeas by bringing them up to a simmer and then drain them.

In blender to combine: lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic. Add chickpeas and blend until quite smooth. Add tahini and process until well combined. Season with salt and combine. Add up to 1/4 cup of cooking liquid to lighten texture.

Spread hummus on platter or large bowl, sprinkle with sumac, and top with the lamb.