To celebrate Easter, we have not just one but two fantastic recipes for you, courtesy of Del Monte. Main course is the traditional leg of lamb, but with a tasty prune pine nut stuffing, then for dessert there’s a gorgeous peach, honey and rosemary cobbler. Get stuck in!
Rolled Leg of Lamb with Prune and Pine Nut Stuffing
Dairy-free – serves 6-8
Prep time: 45 minutes. Cooking time: 1½ – 1¾ hours
Ingredients for the stuffing:
• 1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• About 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• 1 can (410g) Del Monte® Prunes in Juice, drained, de-stoned and roughly chopped
• 50g pine nuts, lightly toasted
• Salt and pepper
Ingredients:
- 1 boned leg of lamb, 1.5-2kg
- Salt and pepper
- Olive or vegetable oil
- 1 onion, roughly chopped 1 stem celery, roughly chopped
- 1 bay leaf (optional)
- 1 rounded tbsp plain flour
- 750ml hot chicken or lamb stock
Method
- To make the stuffing, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry, stirring, for about 10 minutes, until golden. Add the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes more then take off the heat. Add the thyme, prunes and pine nuts and season well with salt and pepper. Leave to cool completely.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6.
- Open out the lamb on a board, skin side down. Use a sharp knife to make some deep slashes into the thicker parts of the meat, then lay a sheet of parchment over the meat and use a rolling pin or meat mallet to beat it (just a bit – no need to go mad!) into a reasonably even, roughly rectangular shape. Discard the parchment.
- Have ready 3-4 long pieces of cotton string. Season the surface of the meat with salt and pepper, then spread the cooled stuffing over it, leaving a gap at one shorter end and along both longer ends – the stuffing will fill up these gaps as you roll the meat. Press the stuffing into the slashes and crevices in the meat. Now roll up the meat as snugly as you can, working towards the shorter end with the gap. It doesn’t need to be super tidy! Use the pieces of string to secure the meat firmly in its rolled-up shape. Scoop up any stuffing that escapes and push back into the joint. Weigh the joint now.
- Transfer the meat to a roasting dish. Brush it all over with oil and season well with salt and pepper. Put the roughly chopped onion and celery around the meat, and the bay leaf if using, and pour 200ml water into the tin. Calculate the cooking time at 20 minutes per 500g stuffed weight (you should get a total between 1¼ and 1½ hours). Put the meat in for this time.
- If you have a probe thermometer: the meat should reach around 60C in its thickest part for medium, and around 70C for medium-well done.
- Transfer the meat to a warmed dish and cover with foil while you make the gravy.
- Tip all the juices from the roasting tin, along with the veg and any stray bits of stuffing, into a saucepan over a medium heat. Sprinkle over the flour and whisk it in. Let the juices come to a simmer and thicken. Gradually whisk in the hot stock and any more juices that have seeped from the resting lamb joint, and bring to a simmer again. Cook for a couple of minutes then taste the gravy. If it seems good, add salt and pepper to taste, pass it through a sieve into a warmed jug, squishing the veg in the sieve to extract maximum flavour, and it’s ready to serve. If you feel the flavour could be a little more intense, simmer the gravy down for a bit longer until it tastes good to you before seasoning and sieving.
- Serve the lamb in thick slices with the gravy, new potatoes and spring veg.
Peach, Honey and Rosemary Cobbler
Vegetarian
Serves 4-6
Prep time: 25 minutes. Cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
• A little soft butter
• 2 cans (415g) Del Monte® Peach Slices in Juice
• 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary (or use grated orange or lemon zest)
• 2 tbsp runny honey
Ingredients for the cobbler topping:
• 100g self-raising wholemeal flour
• Pinch of salt
• 35g cold butter, diced
• 35g caster sugar
• 50g ground almonds
• 1 medium egg
• 4 tbsp milk
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190C/gas 5. Butter a 1.5 litre-capacity oven dish.
- Drain the peach slices, reserving 2 tbsp of the juice. Arrange the peaches in the dish, scatter with the rosemary, then trickle over the reserved juice and the honey.
- To make the topping, put the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, or a food processor, add the butter and rub it in with your fingers, or process until the mix resembles crumbs. Stir or blitz in the sugar and ground almonds. Beat the egg and the milk together then stir into the flour mix to make a soft, sticky dough.
- Drop the dough over the fruit in small spoonfuls – the topping shouldn’t cover all the fruit.
- Bake for 30 minutes until the ‘cobbles’ are cooked through (test one with a skewer and check it comes out ‘clean’). Serve hot, warm or cold with double cream.
