Joe Couldridge from The Prince Arthur's Stuffed Lamb Leg
Joe Couldrige from Hackney gastropub, The Prince Arthur, shares his recipe for this very memorable Stuffed Lamb Leg, Tomato & Oregano Yoghurt & Sauce Pistou Bun.
Ingredients
Lamb
1 x Deboned Lamb Leg
2 x Thyme Sprigs
2 x Oregano Sprigs
1 x Rosemary Sprigs
3 x Garlic Cloves
100ml Good Olive Oil
Black Pepper
Sea salt
Pistou
1 x Bunch of Basil
1 x Clove of Garlic
200ml Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Tomato & Oregano Yoghurt
100g Sundried Tomatoes/Preserved Tomatoes
2 sprigs of Oregano
4 x Clove of Garlic
Couple thyme sprigs
2 x Lemon
300g Thick Thick Yoghurt
Espelette Pepper
+ a couple of crunchy 'Ciabatta' like rolls
Lamb Leg:
Firstly, make your stuffing by picking all of the thyme, oregano & rosemary leaves off their stalks and finely chopping. Mince the garlic, add a good few cracks of pepper and a generous pinch of salt (you want this to season the inside of the leg) and your olive oil.
Now debone a lamb leg. You can ask your butcher or do this yourself. Score the inside (be careful not to cut all the way through) this helps your stuffing really get in to the meat. Now really massage your stuffing into the meat and tie it up for roasting using some good quality butcher string. (I'm sure you can ask your local butcher to help if they like you enough ;) ) Now lightly salt the leg and leave in your fridge overnight to marinate.
The Next Day:
Preheat oven to 140°C/Light your charcoal
Heat a touch of oil in a heavy bottomed pan to smoke point. Lightly season your lamb again and add to the pan Or on high heat charcoal. Give a hard sear to all sides giving a nice colour all round.
Now either roast in a low oven (140°C) or place your leg on a higher shelf of your grill or find a low heat area to cook on.
This should take about 1 - 1.5 Hours depending on how large your lamb leg is. Turn it every 10/15 mins if you're using charcoal.
I like to cook a lamb leg to around 48°C and let it rest for around 20 minutes until it's around 58°C internal.
Pistou:
A great base sauce that can be used on a load of different meats - Beef, Pork, Chicken or Lamb to be honest! The most classic even being a French soul called 'Soupe au Pistou'. A gorgeous Spring soup.
This one is purely for the Lamb.
Finely chop your basil, mince your garlic, add a good glug of olive oil and a pinch of salt and you're sorted.
Tomato Creme Fraiche:
For this step you can skip the preserved tomato and use sundried, entirely up to you.
Firstly, sterilize your Kilner jar or jam jar you will use to ferment in. You can do this by washing with hot soapy water and baking in a 140 degrees for 15 minutes
Wash good fresh tomatoes under cold water, quarter and add to a clean bowl with a couple of crushed cloves of garlic and some thyme sprigs. Now place your Kilner jar in a pair of weighing scales and tare the scales to zero.
Now add your tomato, garlic & thyme and fill with water to the top. Record this weight you will need to remember, as now we add 2% salt to aid fermentation and kill any bad bacteria this is called 'lacto-fermentation'
E.g. Total weight of Tomatoes, Garlic, Thyme & Water to fill is 1000g you need to add 20g of salt.
Give a good shake to incorporate the salt. Add a weight to weigh down the ingredients as you don't want any air contact. Glass weight or a freezer bag filled with air on the top will do as well. Now seal and leave around 20/21 degrees (an airing cupboard is perfect) for around three days. Check/'Burp' the ferment daily. It should get nice and fizzy by now and smell a bit yeasty. If you smell alcohol or chemicals or if you get any black mould throw it out immediately. If you want to be double safe, use a PH tester and test at a PH of 4.5 OR below. Most lacto-ferments are really easy and fine but you need to know what to look for.
You can now refrigerate and use within a week OR in this recipe.
Now use either your fermented tomatoes or Sundried.
Squeeze the liquid from your fermented tomatoes or the oil from your sundried tomatoes out and roughly chop them
Pick the leaves from 2 sprigs of oregano and roughly chop
Mince 1 x Clove of Garlic
Fold all of these ingredients through your creme fraiche/yoghurt
Finish with 1 lemon’s worth of zest & a good pinch of Espelette pepper.
Now assemble.
Cut a toasted bun in half.
Creme Fraiche on the bottom
Good few slices of roasted Lamb
Finish with the Sauce Pistou
Sandwich together. Sorted. You're welcome.
