Whip a leg of lamb out of the freezer or make a trip to your local butcher for some fresh cuts, because nothing warms the soul in wintertime like a hot meaty dish with fragrant flavours and spices. Whether you like it picked off the bone and shredded onto fettuccine, roasted with herbs and potatoes, or cooked for hours in a tagine until tender, we have gathered the most delicious ways to cook local lamb.

Cape Winelands lamb tagine
Pierneef à La Motte chef Chris Erasmus shares one of his all-time favourite lamb recipes. It has an exotic mix of dried fruit, almonds and spices such as coriander, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and cloves.

Dukkah-spiced braised lamb neck 
Allistaire Lawrence (previously of Roots) likes his lamb spiced with cumin, coriander, white sesame seeds and hazelnuts. Make this when you have time on your hands.

Greek-style roast lamb
This delicious lamb recipe needs to cook for 8 to 10 hours, leaving the rest of the chilly winter day to work, play or nap.

Grilled lamb cutlets with salsa verde  
Give lamb chops some zing with an easy-to-make salsa verde of anchovies, mint, basil, capers, garlic and tangy mustard and vinegar.

Hearty winter lamb shank pot pies  
With juicy lamb in rich gravy under a hat of golden flaky pastry, these are the ultimate winter pies. For a lighter meal, replace the spices with fresh thyme, bay leaves and chopped parsley, swap out the red wine for white and add baby carrots, pickling onions and sugar snap peas to the stew.

Lamb riblets with Moroccan spices
Food blogger Nina Timm says of this delicious take on ribs, “The zing of the orange and the pomegranates, and the punch of the wonderful Moroccan spices really take you to an exotic destination.”

Mutton biryani
This is a tasty dinner option for large crowds with rice and fragrant cardamom, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, cumin and coriander.

Parmesan-crumbed lamb chops
Lamb chops can be successfully and satisfyingly cooked in the kitchen, too. Try these chops crumbed with Parmesan and breadcrumbs, and served with a zingy sauce of olives, lemon zest and parsley.

Rack of lamb with roast potatoes and vegetables
Chef and owner of Myoga, Mike Bassett, shares his rack of lamb recipe with robust flavours of cinnamon, mustard and mint jelly.

Roast leg of lamb
A beautiful roast leg of lamb is always a crowd pleaser – especially if it features the magic combination of garlic and rosemary.

Sticky spare ribs  
This recipe is adapted from the Readers Digest South African Cookbook printed in 1985. You can use pork or lamb ribs, but, whatever you choose, the result will be rich, sticky and utterly delicious.

Sweet potato gnocchi with shredded lamb
Gnocchi is one of those underrated dishes that is not particularly difficult to make. Plus, if you use sweet potato it’s a lot healthier than most starches. Try this recipe by Andy Fenner.

Tagine of lamb knuckle with tomato  
Hearty and warming, this simple stew made in a tagine is perfect for chilly winter evenings.