Roast Leg of Lamb with Fig and Balsamic Sauce
When you roast a leg of lamb do it properly! This stuffed leg has a filling of prunes, currants, almonds and herbs and is finished with a balsamic honey sauce.
Ingredients
Serves: 6
- 2kg boneless leg of lamb
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pitted prunes
- 1/4 cup currants
- 2 tablespoons creme de cassis liqueur
- 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped roasted and salted almonds
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 3 cloves garlic, cut into thirds
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- for the sauce
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 25g butter
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 100g dried figs, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 6 mint leaves
- 6 basil leaves
Directions
Preparation:50min ›
Cook:1hour30min ›
Ready in:2hours20min
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
- Combine the prunes, currants and creme de cassis in a small bowl. In another small bowl, combine the rosemary, thyme, coriander, salt, and pepper.
- Lay the lamb out flat on the work surface. Trim off excess fat, and cut any thick parts open so that it is an even thickness. Sprinkle half of the herb mixture over the lamb. Mix the almonds and chopped mint into the prune mixture and spread evenly over the lamb. Roll up starting at one of the short sides, and tie with kitchen twine in 3cm intervals. Cut 9 slits about 2cm deep into the top of the lamb, and insert a slice of garlic in each. Rub with olive oil, and sprinkle with the remaining herb mixture.
- Place lamb seam-side up on a rack set in a baking dish. Roast in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours or until cooked as desired. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before slicing.
- Meanwhile, bring the balsamic vinegar to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Boil for 4-5 minutes or until reduced by half. Add the butter, honey and figs. Stir until the butter has melted, then remove from the heat. Stir in the chopped basil.
- To serve, remove the twine from the lamb and cut into thick slices. Arrange on a warm serving platter and drizzle with the fig sauce, garnish with mint and basil leaves.
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Reviews and Ratings
Global Ratings:
(131)
Reviews in English (104)
I am a lamb lover; it's by far my favorite meat, I made this meal for Xmas dinner and I was expecting perfection since the recipe sounded absolutely divine and I spent so much money on the ingredients. It was good--but not nearly as delicious as I was expecting. First, I would suggest you double or triple the herb/spice rub. Because it was NOT CLOSE TO ENOUGH. I really think that if I had done this, it might have been a five star. Double the liqueur amount. I subbed black cherry liqueur because I didn't want to buy a bottle of cassis I would never drink. Lastly, the cooking time is off for this recipe. Lamb just shouldnt be cooked more than medium rare, which means removal from the oven at 125-130 F on the thermometer. Check your old cookbooks ladies and gentlemen-- the ones printed before our nation became fearful -- medium rare is 130-135F, and meat always rises 5F internally after removal from the oven! That means 8-9 minutes per pound for lamb. My 5 lb roast was done in 40 min--so check it early!! Also, because it's butterflied, the ends of the lamb cook to well while the middle is medium rare, so you can even please the philistines who prfer well-done meat with this recipe. - 28 Dec 2009 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
This was a very interesting and elegant dish! The herbs really worked well together, but next time I'll use more rosemary. It wasn't quite as flavorful as I had hoped, though. Here are some tips I'll use for next time: Be very careful in the roasting time/temp. I roasted at 400 for the first thirty minutes and then turned it down to 335 for another 1 1/2 hours. My 5 1/2 pound leg was well-done and should have come out thirty minutes sooner. It was not dry, though. If you use dry figs in the sauce as I did, add some water to the vinegar or else it becomes too strong. Don't worry about the basil in the sauce, it works really well and doesn't overwhelm the dish with contrasting flavors. I even suggest using a little more. If you don't want to purchase creme de cassis, another option is to use red current jelly. I used both and added some of the jelly to the fig sauce as well. As other reviewers mentioned, I also used cranberries (dried) in my filling. I think as an alternative to the prunes, dates might taste nice in this. Next time, I may use both! Pistachios would be good in the filling in place of the almonds. This is a fun recipe to get creative with! - 14 Apr 2009 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
We loved this recipe. We live in a small country town and there was no lamb or figs near so I had to substitute. I used sliced pork sirloin roast and cherries instead of currants. I doubled the plum filling recipe so that I could have enough to put inbetween every slice. I had no string so I put the stuffed roast inside of a meatloaf pan and covered with foil. It was so good with the pork we can't even imagine how great it would be with lamb. I ordered a lamb online and can't wait to make it again. Hands down we agreed it was the best dish we've had in months. - 13 Apr 2008 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)