Meat mains
Roast lamb and mint sauce with boulangère potatoes and rosemary roast veg
A classic Easter Sunday lunch.
Cook's notes
For safety, when slicing your potatoes, cut a sliver off one side to make a flat surface, then use that to make a safe side to cut down onto, rather than a roly-poly round potato. Make the hand you've not got your knife in into a claw to protect your fingertips when holding the potato and slicing. Saves on a few plasters.
Ingredients
- 25g butter
- 400g potatoes
- ½ low salt vegetable stock cube
- 10-12 leaves fresh mint
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 courgettes
- 1 red pepper
- 2 red onions
- 1 mini lamb leg roast
- oil for frying, e.g. sunflower or light olive
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 tsp redcurrant jelly
- 60ml red wine
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Preheat oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 5. Use a little of the butter to lightly grease a 25cm x 15cm baking/gratin dish, or similar. Wash, peel and finely slice the potatoes into rounds, (about 2-3mm thick). Layer the potatoes in the dish.
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Step 2
Boil a kettle of water. Crumble half the stock cube into a small jug or bowl. Add 200ml of boiled water, stir to dissolve, then pour over the potatoes. Season with pepper. Dot over the remaining butter. Pop the dish in the oven for 20 minutes.
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Step 3
Make the mint sauce: wash 10-12 of the mint leaves, depending on size. Shake dry then finely chop/ shred. Put them in a small jug or bowl. Add the sugar and vinegar and a good pinch of salt. Boil a kettle and add 2 tablespoons of hot water. Leave to stand.
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Step 4
Wash and chop the courgettes into chunky, bite-sized pieces, about 3cm. Halve, deseed and chop the pepper to a similar size. Peel the onions. Cut each lengthways in half through the root, then each half into 5-6 wedges. Toss all 3 veg in a separate baking dish, with just enough oil to coat. Season.
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Step 5
Once the potatoes have been in the oven for 20 minutes, add the other dish of veg on the lower shelf. Roast both for a further 20 minutes.
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Step 6
Meanwhile take the lamb out of the fridge. Pick some of the leaves off the rosemary sprig and finely chop, so they resemble breadcrumbs. Chop a good 1 teaspoon worth.
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Step 7
Once the second lot of veg has been in for 20 minutes, leave it in the oven and season the lamb. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a small frying pan. Fry the lamb on a high heat, turning now and then, to brown it. Transfer it to a separate small ovenproof dish. Keep the frying pan with any fat and lamb juices in.
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Step 8
Toss the mixed veg with the chopped rosemary. Roast the lamb, veg and potatoes for a further 20 minutes (this should give you a pink lamb, cook it for 5 minutes or so longer if you prefer).
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Step 9
While the lamb cooks, crumble the rest of the stock cube into the frying pan you used to brown the lamb. Add the redcurrant jelly and red wine and heat gently for 1 minute. Add 300ml water, a little salt and pepper, bring up to a low boil and cook until reduced by about half, to make a little gravy.
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Step 10
Remove the lamb from the oven once cooked, leave it to rest for at least 5 minutes, before thinly slicing and serving with the veg, potatoes (they should be soft and starting to colour and crisp a little on top), gravy and mint sauce.
