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Apricot and Almond Stuffed Roast Lamb

Serves: 6
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours

Ingredients

LAMB

  • 1 cup breadcrumbs
  • 60g butter, melted
  • ½ small onion, finely chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 45g slivered almonds
  • 8-10 apricots, thinly sliced
  • ½ teaspoon ginger
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 75g feta
  • 1 lamb shoulder roast

TABBOULEH

  • 1 ½ cups water
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup bulgur wheat
  • 1 ½ cups parsley gently packed, finely chopped
  • ½ mint gently packed, chopped
  • 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
  • 300g cucumber, finely diced
  • Juice 1 lemon
  • 1/3 cup olive oil

SUMAC YOGHURT

  • 1 cup Greek yoghurt
  • 2 teaspoons sumac
  • 1 small clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

    Method:

    Pre-heat the oven to 160ºC. Put all the stuffing ingredients (aside from the feta) into a small bowl, season generously with freshly ground black pepper and mix well to combine. Lastly crumble in the feta and gently mix again.

    Remove the netting from the lamb and roll it out. Spoon the stuffing all over the meat, pressing it down with the back of a spoon, then roll up the meat again and tie with 2 or 3 pieces of kitchen twine. Put into a snug oven-proof dish, pour 1 cup water around the lamb, cover tightly with tin foil and put into the oven. Roast for 2 ½ hours then remove the tin foil, turn the heat up to 220ºC and cook for a further 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

    While the lamb is cooking, put the water into a saucepan along with the salt and bring to the boil. Add in the bulgur wheat, let it come to the boil again and then turn down the heat until just simmering, cover with the lid and let cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the water has been absorbed. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork. Spoon out into a salad bowl and leave to cool. Once cool, add in the herbs, spring onions, cucumber, lemon juice and olive oil. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix well.

    Put the sumac yoghurt ingredients into a small bowl and mix well. Season with sea salt and mix again.

    Serve the lamb on top of the tabbouleh, along with dollops of sumac yoghurt sprinkled with extra sumac if desired, and a sprinkle of almonds for extra crunch.