Studded Leg of Lamb with Feta, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Pomegranate

Every week on Simon Mayo's Saturday show, we're joined by food and wine expert, Nigel Barden, who talks us through incredible recipes and the wines that go with them. As well as satisfying your taste buds, we also satisfy your ears with a classical track that compliments the food perfectly.

Simon Mayo's show is on from 10am until 1pm every Saturday and you can listen here. On Saturday 28th September we made Studded Leg of Lamb with Feta, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Pomegranate.

The full recipe is below:

Studded Leg of Lamb with Feta, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Pomegranate

by Tim Rumney, Chairman of Best Western Hotel Group.

Serves 6-8

Prep time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 1hr 45 mins (approx)

Ingredients

Lamb

2kg leg Cumbrian saltmarsh lamb (bone-in)

20g fresh rosemary

1 sprig rosemary

50g anchovy fillets

1 whole garlic head/bulb

2 tsp chilli flakes

1kg Maris Piper potatoes (or other floury potatoes, such as King Edwards) – peeled or unpeeled, or both. It’s up to you! Then cut into bite sized pieces

Seeds from 2 pomegranates (or 1 pack pomegranate seeds 200g approx)

200g feta cheese, crumbled

200g sundried tomatoes, cut into 2cm lengths

1 litre lamb stock - fresh, or made from cubes. (You can use chicken or veg stock)

1 glass of red wine

1 tbsp redcurrant jelly

juice of half lemon

4 tbsp vegetable oil

Salad

1 pack of rocket (approx. 100g)

2 baby gem lettuce

1 x 400g tin / jar artichoke hearts (drained)

20 stoned olives (green or black)

1 avocado, sliced

Handful toasted pine nuts (optional)

Dressing

5 tbsp soured cream

2 tsp wholegrain mustard

1/2 fresh orange, juice & zest of (or use orange juice with bits in, at a push)

1 tbsp splash of balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

salt & black pepper, to taste

Method

1. Finely chop the rosemary and anchovies and mix with the chilli flakes

2. With a small, sharp knife, make numerous inserts all over the lamb, and stuff with the mixture (use all the mixture

3. Rub lamb with 1 tablespoon oil

4. Preheat oven to 260C /240C fan / Gas 10 and seal lamb in a baking tray for 15 mins

5. Reduce oven to 180C/160C fan / Gas 4 and cook lamb for 1hour 15 mins (longer if a large leg)

6. Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces and put into a pan of cold salted water and heat until boiling. Drain and rough up the edges with a fork.

7. In a separate baking tray heat 3 tablespoons of oil and add the parboiled potatoes, spring of rosemary (broken in two) and the head of garlic broken up into cloves

8. Cook for 45 minutes, or until golden brown (turn occasionally)

9. Cut pomegranates in half and extract seeds (or use pre-extracted seeds!)

10. Cut the feta cheese into 1cm squares

11. Remove lamb from tray and rest (serve pink, ideally). Check with a meat thermometer and remove at 60C

12. Put the lamb baking tray on the hob over a medium heat and use the red wine to deglaze the tray, scraping up all the cooking juices and bits of lamb

13. Add the lamb stock, lemon juice and redcurrant jelly and reduce by a third, stirring constantly

14. Combine the salad ingredients and make the dressing

15. Slice the lamb and sprinkle with the pomegranate seeds, feta cheese and sundried tomatoes

16. Serve with the roast potatoes and the dressed salad.

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