Easter Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb with Apricots, Walnuts and Almonds

We love Lamb in our house but don’t have it very often as it’s an expensive treat, so when I was invited to try a brand new recipe I was excited to get going.

Armed with a Sainsbury’s voucher I headed out to get a Leg of Lamb, which can be chilled, or thawed from frozen, I chose chilled and then headed off to find the other ingredients.

This recipe serves 6:

1 x 2 – 2.5kg leg of NZ Lamb

4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

the leaves from 15cm stalk of rosemary, chopped

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)

2 Tbsp olive oil

4 heads of fennel, cut into 6 wedges each

2 bunches baby carrots, skins scrubbed

10 dried apricots, halved

100g whole almonds

60g walnut pieces

1 x 2 – 2.5kg leg of NZ Lamb

4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

the leaves from 15cm stalk of rosemary, chopped

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)

2 Tbsp olive oil

4 heads of fennel, cut into 6 wedges each

2 bunches baby carrots, skins scrubbed

10 dried apricots, halved

100g whole almonds

60g walnut pieces

Cooking method:

• Preheat oven 180˚C.
• Place the lamb in a roasting dish and poke a thin small knife into the flesh in 12 places.
• Mix the garlic, rosemary, thyme and olive oil with a little salt and pepper and poke this into all of the holes and rub the remainder over the leg.
• Place in the centre of the oven and roast for 45 minutes.  After 20 minutes, add 100ml water to prevent the garlic from burning.
• Tip the fennel and carrots onto the lamb and turn the leg over then roast for 30 minutes.
• Take the lamb from the dish, add the apricots, walnuts and almonds, then replace the lamb, again turned over, and put back in the oven.
• It will be cooked medium (which is lovely for leg of lamb) in another 15 – 25 minutes depending on the size.
• Remove the lamb from the roasting dish and sit on a plate loosely covered with foil and a tea towel, and rest in a warm place for at least 15 minutes.
• Turn the oven off, put the roasting dish back in, and keep warm.

Lamb will take approx 30 minutes per kilo, plus 15 minutes. Alternatively a temperature probe is very handy. Insert into the thickest part of the meat half way in. It should read 50-55˚C. Upon resting the temperature will rise to 60˚C. Perfect pink roast lamb! If you like it a little more done, allow 1 hour and 25 minutes, or a reading of 65˚C. Always rest before carving.

The lamb tasted divine and I will be cooking it like that again, although I was not sure about the nuts and apricots – I am afrid we are a bit stuck in our ways with roast potatoes and veg, but you have to try these things!

For more information about New Zealand Lamb go to www.loveourlamb.co.uk