Christmas Dinner Ideas – Stuffed Lamb With Buttered Beans

Give Christmas dinner a new lease of life with this stuffed lamb recipe. The lamb is stuffed with garlic cloves and spinach, and served with sautéed potato slices and greens. If you can’t get Lune Valley lamb, ask for a good quality boned saddle from your butcher and ask them to chop the bones for your stock.

Stuffed Lamb With Buttered Beans

Ingredients:

Roast lamb saddle

• 1 small boned saddle of Lune Valley lamb, retaining bones for gravy
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled
• 500ml of rapeseed oil
• 500ml of lamb stock
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 500g of baby spinach
• salt
• white pepper

To serve

• 200g of runner beans
• 75g of unsalted butter
• 4 large potatoes, cut into 8 cm discs
• 200ml of rapeseed oil
• 75ml of water

Directions:

1. Start by making the gravy. Preheat the oven 180°C/Gas mark 4. Chop the bones from the lamb saddle into evenly sized pieces and place in a roasting tray in the oven. Cook until evenly golden brown. This will take over an hour.

• 1 small boned saddle of Lune Valley lamb, retain bones for gravy

2. Meanwhile, gently heat enough rapeseed oil in a pan to cover the whole garlic cloves, add the garlic and let it simmer for 40 minutes to 1 hour until the garlic is soft. Strain off the oil and set aside.

• 500ml of rapeseed oil
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled

3. When the lamb bones are evenly browned, remove from the oven and transfer to a saucepan. Cover with the lamb stock and rosemary sprig, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 20-30 minutes.

• 500ml of lamb stock
• 1 sprig of rosemary

4. Pass the lamb gravy through a fine sieve. Reheat when ready to serve.

5. To stuff the lamb, lay the boneless saddle flat on a chopping board, so the two portions of meat are facing away from you. Season liberally with salt and pepper.

• salt
• white pepper, fresh

6. Place the cooked, drained garlic cloves lengthways along the centre of the saddle

7. Blanch and refresh the spinach, then squeeze out any excess water. Lay the spinach over the garlic cloves, along the centre of the lamb saddle.

• 500g of baby spinach

8. Fold the lamb saddle over so the flaps of fat overlap each other. Tie the saddle tightly with butcher’s string in 2-3cm intervals along the whole saddle and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

9. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Heat an ovenproof frying pan to a medium heat and place the lamb saddle in without any oil. Seal the lamb saddle all over until light golden brown, then place the pan in the oven.

10. After 5 minutes turn the oven down to 180°C/gas mark 4 and continue cooking for a further 15-20 minutes for medium rare cooking or more if you like it well done.

11. Remove the cooked lamb saddle from the oven and leave to rest on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

12. Next, cook the potatoes by placing in salted cold water, bring to the boil and simmer until almost tender. Drain and set aside.

• 4 large potatoes, cut into 8 cm discs

13. To prepare the runner beans, slice them on an angle and blanch in boiling salted water until tender. Strain and place into iced water immediately.

• 200g of runner beans
• salt

14. Return the cooked lamb saddle to the oven for 3-4 minutes to reheat, then remove.

15. While the lamb is heating through, pan-fry the cooked potato discs in a little rapeseed oil until golden brown on both sides. Season with salt and pepper. Place the golden brown potato discs in the centre of the serving bowls.

• 200ml of rapeseed oil
• salt
• white pepper

16. In a separate saucepan melt the unsalted butter with 75ml water and bring to the boil, then add the runner beans. Coat the runner beans with the butter and water emulsion, then season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

• 75g of unsalted butter
• salt
• white pepper
• 75ml of water

17. Cut all the string from the lamb saddle and then carve the saddle into 1.5cm slices and arrange on top of the potato discs.

18. Put the buttered runner beans in a separate serving dish and pour the lamb gravy into a jug. Serve immediately.

Source: greatbritishchefs.com