Sunday roast: Breast of lamb stuffed with bacon and apricots recipe
Comments(12)
We have got a craze for breast of lamb at the moment. It’s such an economical joint and it’s a great opportunity to play with store cupboard ingredients for the stuffing. I usually use fresh breadcrumbs in stuffing but I had such a lot of dried breadcrumbs I though I’d whiz them up in the food processor and give them a go instead. I also left out onions to speed up the preparation.
The result was lots of texture and a satisfying crunchiness that balanced the sweet melt in the mouth meat. Following Nigel Slater’s tip that bacon and lamb flavours go so well together, I cubed some of our home cured streaky and added that to the dried apricots. As we are thinking budget when it comes to meals, I boycotted the wine and just used cold water to bind the mixture. I tossed in a decent amount of fresh parsley and some chopped cashews. We are eating loads of parsley at the moment, I can’t wait for my parsley bed to get going again.
The secret of the dish is in the slow cooking. It needs a good 2.5 - 3 hours in a slow oven. The other must is to cover the ends of the joint with foil so that the stuffing remains moist and doesn’t burn. In fact I’m thinking of pot roasting my next experiment in the slow cooker.
The result was a classy dish that wouldn’t break the bank if you have friends round for supper.
Breast of lamb stuffed with bacon and apricots recipe
Ingredients:
1 breast of lamb (500g or bigger)
The stuffing:
100g of apricots chopped
50g of cashews chopped
200g of dried bread crumbs
100g of smoked streaky bacon cubed
4-5 tblsp of water
Lashings of ground black pepper
Two large handfuls of parsley
3 average garlic cloves
A pinch of salt
Method:
Prepare the ingredients for the stuffing. Mix well and spread along the centre of the strip of breast of lamb. Roll gently and secure with a butcher’s skewer. The stuffing will want to squeeze out so place the meat in a boat of kitchen foil and cover the sides of the joint with two circles of foil to stop the stuffing burning.
Put the joint into a preheated oven for 30 mins at 220c (200c fan). After this turn the oven down low 160c (140c) fan. Remove the joint and pour over 50ml of cider/white wine or water). Return the joint to the oven for 2.5 hours. Basting occasionally. Let the joint rest under some towels for half an hour whilst you prepare your vegetables. Put the juices from the joint into an ice cold pyrex jug and pop it into the fridge for a few minutes for the fat to solidify. Pour of the meat juices, add a little liquid and simmer the juice to thicken and reduce it.
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FD
Sounds great. I like the idea of doing it in the slow cooker too.
Try stuffing it with Pilau Rice- it is scrummy!
Hi Amanda
It was good. Can’t wait to try it in the slow cooker.
Hi Kate(uk)
Nice twist. I’ve ordered a couple this week so I’ll try that out. I am assuming that the rice is cooked beforehand?
Yes, just do the usual pilau rice thing ( bit like risotto), cook some chopped onions in ghee until caremelised nicely, wash the rice, add it to the onions with some cinnamon and any other fancied spices, and stir and cook just in the fat and onion juice for a few minutes then add the water/stock and dried fruits-sultanas, chopped apricots, whatever you fancy- or grated carrots, put a lid on the pan and stir and check water levels until rice is done.It should be cooked to sticky stage so it works as a stuffing, add chopped almonds or other nuts. Apricots are particularly good with lamb.I was searching for lamb breast last week just so I could do this with it: with a spicy crust on the outside of the lamb it is just lovely!
Looks good, will have to try it!
Hi Kate(uk)
Thanks so much for leaving the rice stuffing recipe – sounds really delicious. I love the cobination of apricots and lamb.
Hi Serena
Thanks for dropping by. This is well worth making if you can find breast of lamb.
[...] I like a stuffed, rolled breast of lamb such as that detailed in the Cottage Smallholder recipe http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=658. I used the whizzer (food processor) to mix the stuffing up as I made fresh breadcrumbs (not dried [...]
Great recipe – had it for Christmas dinner. Made too much stuffing, so used it for burgers (beaten egg to help bind it) for lunch on Boxing Day. Ta.
Has anyone tried breast of lamb in the slow cooker yet? I thought about it but then I saw on another cooking forum that it’s too fatty a cut of meat to done in it?
Any suggestions?
It is nice done is a slow cooker but not very crispy, so might be work popping in oven just to crisp up before serving. My daughters both loved it with gravy,veg and mint sauce. it is a bit greasy but yummy … blow the diet for one night!
I have found that this will work well cooked the day before.In the slow cooker.
Separate the meat from the liquid and Leave both to go cold so that the joint is easy to slice and the fat can be taken off the top of the stock.
Then put the joint back together. Tie it long ways and brush with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. (some times the joint will fit into a loaf tin)
A half an hour or so in a very hot oven will crisp the outside and the slices can be carefully placed on a hot plate.
Another variation on the theme is to use the slices in a yorkshire pudding batter to make a sort of toad in the hole.
Thanks for the recipe, tried it, messed it up first time….the meat shrank a tad too much so the stuffing mostly burnt…NEXT TIME!!
Here’s an alternative. I had way too much stuffing left so i thought…
1. Portobello mushrooms
2. Stuff with apricot etc stuffing.
3. Add a layer of tomatoes.
4. Add layer of bacon.
Fry mushrooms first in garlic and oil, part fry the bacon.
Add a generous layer of stuffing, tomatoes then bacon.
Pop in oven for about 20mins at 200 degrees, let the juices work their way down…then serve.
Voila!