Rolled leg of lamb
You can't beat a boned, rolled leg of lamb to cook when inviting friends over, reckons Gordon Ramsay
Difficulty and servings
Serves 8 - 10
Preparation and cooking times
Ready in 1 hour 15 minutes
- A leg of lamb feeds 6 people but if you bone it and roll it you can get 8-10 portions out of it, and it will be much easier to carve. And no, this isn't tricky, the rolling part is much easier than it looks. The point of the dish is that you can prep it in advance and cook it when you need to, making your main course stress-free.
- Ask your butcher to bone out a leg but not to roll it. You'll end up with a flat piece of meat. Now lay the lamb skin-side down on the work surface and trim it to a rough square. If one part of the meat is fatter, trim it down by slicing off some of the meat and transferring it to a part where the lamb is thinner to make it easier to roll.
- For the filling, wilt the spinach in a hot pan with a knob of butter for 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and stir in the pine nuts, apricots and half the rosemary, and cool. Don't season the filling or this will affect the meat. Just season the outside of the meat. To roll, think Swiss roll. Lay the filling down the centre of the meat (the filling will squish to the edges as you roll). Now firmly fold the lamb over the filling until you have a roll (as you can see, it won't be a neat shape). Either tie the roll at intervals using butcher's string - don't tie it too tight or the string will cut into the meat, just make it tight enough to hold the lamb firmly in a nice shape. Or roll the lamb tightly in foil. If you choose the foil method, don't brown the lamb first. Once you've rolled it, wrap it very tightly in cling film and leave it to rest for a couple of hours or until you are ready to cook it - you can do this a day in advance.
- You've got two choices here, you can cook the lamb just before your guests arrive and leave it to rest until you need it, or you can cook it a few hours ahead and serve it warm rather than hot (on hot plates). Whichever you choose you'll need to get the lamb out of the fridge a couple of hours before cooking it so it comes up to room temperature, the cooking will then take about 1 hour.
- First put your oven on 200C/ fan 180C/gas 6. Next get a large frying pan or roasting tin, add some oil and put it over a high heat. Unwrap the lamb and season well and then colour it all over in the hot oil. You'll see how much easier it is to colour it evenly when it is a neat roll. Add the remaining rosemary, thyme, garlic and a knob of butter. The butter will help colour it and the herbs add flavour - poke them under the lamb to make a bed. (You can do this bit ahead as well, then you will be able to just sling it in the oven). Now put the tin/pan in the oven for about 45 minutes. To see if it is ready poke a skewer into the centre, count to 3 and then test it on the inside of your wrist. It should feel warm - if it doesn't, cook for another 15 minutes and try again.
Accompaniments
WHAT ABOUT VEG? I'd make a potato dish such as dauphinoise ahead then give it a quick blast in the microwave to heat it. Other veg can be cooked ahead then reheated in a pan with butter and seasoning. IDEAS FOR A STARTER AND PUDDING? A roasted vegetable soup with a slice of goat's cheese and some croutons. And for pud, treacle tart. I love it.
467 kcalories, protein 50.2g, carbohydrate 3.5g, fat 28.1 g, saturated fat 13.4g, fibre 1.3g, salt 0.45 g
Recipe from olive magazine, April 2006.
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Ingredients
- boned leg of lamb , about 2-2.5kg (after boning)
- 300g young spinach , any long stalks taken off
- butter
- 2 tbsp pine nuts , toasted
- 6 dried apricots , chopped
- a small bunch rosemary
- a small bunch thyme
- a head garlic , halved horizontally
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Difficulty and servings
Serves 8 - 10
Preparation and cooking times
Ready in 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
- boned leg of lamb , about 2-2.5kg (after boning)
- 300g young spinach , any long stalks taken off
- butter
- 2 tbsp pine nuts , toasted
- 6 dried apricots , chopped
- a small bunch rosemary
- a small bunch thyme
- a head garlic , halved horizontally
467 kcalories, protein 50.2g, carbohydrate 3.5g, fat 28.1 g, saturated fat 13.4g, fibre 1.3g, salt 0.45 g
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