Leek-braised lamb with creamy leek and mint sauce
This recipe involves gently braising the lamb with leeks, cinnamon, cloves and orange to create flavoursome, tender meat. The juices are then combined with milk, butter, flour, fresh mint, leeks and seasoning to produce the the accompanying sauce. Filling, flavoursome and nutritious, this dish would taste delicious served with any fresh veg you like.
Servings 8
Ingredients
For the braised lamb
- 1 leg of lamb approx. 3kg
- 20 garlic cloves
- 2 leeks washed, trimmed and cut into four large chunks
- 1 orange quartered
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 carrot halved
- sea salt and black pepper freshly ground
For the sauce
- 300 ml braising juices skimmed of fat
- 1 litre full cream milk
- 75 g 75g/3oz butter
- 75 g 75g/3oz plain flour
- 8 8 fresh mint leaves roughly chopped
- freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
- - 6 leeks washed, trimmed and cut into 2cm-wide slices
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C Fan/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
- Make 20 regularly spaced small slits in the skin of the lamb and insert the cloves. Weigh the joint and calculate the cooking time according to the pack instructions. Place lamb in a deep roasting pan.
- Surround the lamb with all the braising ingredients and pour boiling water to come half way up the side of the meat. Place a piece of wet baking paper over the meat and braising ingredients and cover with foil. Oven braise, adding more water if required.
- Once cooked, remove from the oven and set aside 300ml/ ½pt of the braising juice for the sauce, skimming off the fat beforehand. Allow the meat to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes before carving into thin slices.
- Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Simmer the prepared leeks for 3-4 minutes, until just tender. Drain.
- Melt the butter and stir in the flour. Gradually add the reserved braising juices and milk, stirring continuously over a gentle heat until the sauce is simmering. Season and stir in the mint and leeks until combined.
- Pour the sauce over the carved mutton slices and accompany with crispy roast potatoes and any veg of your choice - I used tender stem broccoli and this worked quite well - we even had a little bit of sage and onion stuffing on the side!
Notes
Tip: try using a scoring knife to cut the slits into the skin of the lamb before placing the cloves in; a standard knife isn't always sharp enough for this.