Roast Lamb with Apricot Sauce

The first recipe was a random pick from the book.  I don't remember having had this as a kid but I'll certainly be making it again.


Roast Lamb with Apricot Sauce

shoulder of Lamb
1 small onion
2 dessert spoons Butter or margarine
1 teaspoon finely chopped mint
2 cups soft white breadcrumbs
6 tinned apricot halves
6 tablespoons supafry
1/4 apricot juice
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 cup apricot pulp
1 1/2 cups water
salt and pepper

Bone the shoulder.  Wipe with damp cloth and spread flat.

Chop onion finely, fry until tender in 1 dessertspoon melted butter.  Add 1 cup (half) breadcrumbs and brown lightly.

Chop apricot halves, add with mint to onion and crumb mix. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread along centre of meat, roll up, secure with string.  Place in baking pan with (melted) supafry and apricot juice.  Bake in moderate oven until tender (approx. 30 mins for every pound of meat (500g)).

Brown the balance of the crumbs in remaining butter and pack on top of meat 10 mins before finishing cooking. Lift meat onto hot dish, remove thread carefully.  Keep hot while preparing sauce.

Drain all but 1 tablespoon of supafry from dish mix in flour.  Stir over heat until smooth and slightly coloured.  Add stock, apricot pulp, salt and pepper. Stir until boiling.  Simmer for a few minutes. Surround meat with cooked peas and carrot rounds.  Serve gravy in heated gravy boat.


Notes and things I did differently:-

The recipe above is pretty much how my grandmother typed it.  I used a 1.1kg butterfly leg of lamb which was quite tricky to roll and really ended up being folded!  A good butcher will debone meat for you.  I misread the recipe and put 1 cup of juice in the pan which worked out ok as the crumb that fell out of my meat soaked it up and cooked separately. I ended up using that as my gravy as mine failed miserably.  Needed some beef or chicken stock in the water I think. I also just chopped up some extra apricot instead of pulp which would have been fine if the gravy had thickened...

If your pan is not suitable for the stove top just transfer the roast drippings into a saucepan and then add flour, stock etc.  Works for me 9/10 times! ( this would be number 10...)  Unlike the Women's weekly recipes; I'm not triple testing prior to publishing...

As you can see from the photo I chose to serve it with Potato, sweet potato and spinach as opposed to peas and carrots.  I tossed the potatoes in the melted supafry before roasting them and they were supa crunchy and yum!