Making this has totally made my food week go from good to awesome. Not only is it dead easy to make, but for under £5 you make a really impressive meal that happily serves four people (and with leftovers for ace sandwiches the following day).Cooked badly lamb breast can be tough and greasy but cooked like this it is meltingly tender and packed full of flavour, not to mention crispy lamb crackling *drool*.
A large breast of lamb only costs about £3 from the butchers, ask them to debone it for you and keep the ribs to use as a trivet though. You can buy butchers string from most cook shops but if you can't find any ask your butcher very nicely for a couple of meters of theirs. If you tell your butcher you will be rolling the lamb breast they will do all the prep for you, they're nice like that.
You'll need:
- 1 lamb breast, deboned
- 7 anchovy fillets in oil (optional but brilliant)
- a handful of dried garlic slivers (if using fresh garlic just finely slice 3 cloves as they will be a lot stronger than the dried which are much sweeter)
- 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- a handful of fresh fennel fronds
- a handful of fresh mint leaves
- zest of 1 lemon
- black pepper
- sea salt flakes
- Lay the breast skin side down and cover with the garlic, anchovies, chilli flakes, lemon zest, herbs and pepper. Roll it tightly and tie with string ever inch or so to keep it nice and secure. Sprinkle the skin with sea salt then put it on top of the saved ribs in a roasting tin. Don't worry if you don't have any ribs though it will still be brilliant, alternatively you could rest the roll on top of some sliced onions or carrots.
- Put your rolled breast into an oven that's preheated to 220C and roast until the skin is lovely and crispy (about 20 - 30 minutes) then turn the oven down to 160C and roast for about 2 hours, basting every 30 minutes with the juices from the bottom of the tray. Once cooked leave it to rest for 10 minutes before carving into slices. I served mine with my Pretty Pea salad.
I'm so excited about this recipe. My one and only attempt at cooking lamb breast was highly disappointing. I'll be trying this dish very soon, thanks!
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All those years I wasted not clutching lamb breast to my food bosom are now being more than made up for!
ReplyDeleteJust trying this one now... I'll let you know how it turns out!
ReplyDeleteI made this on Easter Sunday (my first ever lamb roast) and it was delicious. I replaced the anchovies and fennel with feta cheese and capers, and the look of astonshment on my boyfriend's face that his 'domestically challenged' girlfriend could make something so amazing, was a thing of beauty.
ReplyDeleteI made this tonight, it was very tasty and I'll certainly be making it again.
ReplyDeleteI've just made this, smelled lovely and was really tasty. Will certainly be making it again!
ReplyDeleteTry cocktail sticks to hold it together instead of string and accompany with naan or pitta! Mmmm
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