Stuffed saddle of Lune Valley lamb with buttered runner beans

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Give Sunday lunch a new lease of life with this roast lamb recipe by Adam Gray. 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.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Roast lamb saddle

To serve

Equipment

  • Fine sieve
  • Butcher's string

Method

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
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
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
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
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
8
Fold the lamb saddle over so the flaps of fat overlap each other. Tie the saddle tightly with butcher’s string in 2-3 cm 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
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
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
17
Cut all the string from the lamb saddle and then carve the saddle into 1.5 cm 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
First published in 2015

Adam Gray pulls off classic British flavours with grace, intelligence and admirable lightness of touch.

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