This is a great alternative meat dish for Christmas day if turkey isn’t your thing.

Ingredients

1 large leg of lamb, boned out (basically very similar to a butterfly)

400g of breadcrumbs

300g of butter

A handful of dried cranberries

A handful of toasted pine nuts

1 bulb of garlic

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary chopped

1 small onion diced

Twine for tying it up

Sea salt

Olive oil

Method

Firstly make the stuffing by sweating off the diced onion in some olive oil until softened. Then add the butter, rosemary, pine nuts and cranberries. Place the breadcrumbs into a large bowl and pour the butter mixture into them .

Mix really well and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place and large amount of stuffing into the centre of the boned out leg of lamb and fold the meat around the stuffing as tight and neatly as you can.

Using the twine tie the meat all over like your butcher would. Making sure to double knot each line. Try to keep each bit of twine an equal space apart and take your time. The twine will hold the stuffing in perfectly and will give the lamb a really nice shape.

You can have all of this work done Christmas eve keeping the lamb in the fridge. So then all you have to concentrate on is the cooking of the meat on Christmas day.

When cooking preheat the oven to 200oC.

Bring the lamb to room temperature for an hour before cooking. Season all over with salt and pepper and heat a pan on high. Seal the lamb all over on a pan until its golden all over and the skin is very crispy.

Place into a roasting dish with some water in it and scatter around the garlic cloves. Place into the oven and roast for 1hr and 15mins until nice and medium. Cook for a further 20 minutes for well done. Once cooked leave it to rest for as long as you can. Cover it in lots of tin foil and tea towels so it doesn’t go cold while resting.

Place it on a platter with your roast potatoes scattered around and allow the boss at the top of the table to carve it up. Enjoy.