Recipe: Herb stuffed leg of lamb

By Edward Hayden

Serves 8

Time 2 hour

Medium

Edward says: “A roast joint of meat is one of my favourite things to prepare at home. I always remember when we were young mum would always spend a lot of time preparing Easter lunch, with the preparations always starting on Saturday evening, steeping the peas and making her delicious trifle. She put an equal amount of effort into the lunch on Easter Sunday as that which she would put into Christmas day.”

You will need

1 leg of lamb (approx 2kg/4 ½ lbs), butter-flied, your butcher can do this)

Approximately 3 sprigs of rosemary

For the stuffing

75g/3oz butter

½ medium sized onion, diced

50g/2oz dried apricots, chopped finely

25g/1oz pine nuts

2 tbsp of freshly chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage etc)

200g/7oz breadcrumbs

For the rosemary and redcurrant gravy

1 tbsp plain flour

½ glass red wine

500ml/18floz/ well flavoured lamb/chicken/beef stock

1 dsp redcurrant jelly

1 tsp chopped rosemary

Method

1. First, make the stuffing. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan and use it to gently soften the onion.

2. Add the pine nuts, diced apricots and herbs and continue to cook for a moment or two. Finally add in the breadcrumbs together with a little seasoning and mix well until combined. Allow to cool completely.

3. Get your butcher to take the middle bone out of the lamb and open it out flat. If you need to flatten it out a little you can do so with a rolling pin. Ensure your stuffing is cold and put this in the centre of the lamb and then roll it up like a roulade.If you like you can tie it up with some string or if not use a couple of skewers to secure it in place.

4. Preheat the oven to 190˚C/375˚F/Gas mark 5. Using a sharp knife, make a number of incisions to the fat of the lamb and stick sprigs of the rosemary in the fat.

5. Season lightly with a little salt and pepper and drizzle with a little oil and roast in the oven for 1½ hours turning over half way through.

6. After the first 45 minutes has passed reduce the oven temperature to 170˚C/325˚F/Gas Mark 3 for the remainder of the cooking.  Remove the skewers or string at this interval. Allow the meat to rest for approximately 20 minutes prior to carving.

6. Remove the joint of meat from the roasting tray and place the tray on direct heat. Add in the flour and whisk with the juices until the mixture becomes dry and lumpy in consistency. Whisk in the red wine and stock slowly.

7. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan, Add in the redcurrant jelly and chopped rosemary and continue to cook for 10 minutes and then serve drizzled over the lamb.