Leg of Lamb with Apricot Sauce

With the holiday season upon us, everyone is trying out new recipes to impress the family with. So why not try this beautiful leg of lamb served with a sweet homemade apricot sauce.

For the lamb, we’re keeping the flavours simple with garlic, salt and pepper. This way, the apricot flavour will really shine through. Lamb can easily become too rich, however, the sweet and fresh taste of the sauce will complement the lamb to perfection and the flavours will blend beautifully together.

Top it off with some apricot sauce

Apricots are a great source of antioxidants and vitamins, all of which may help protect our bodies against heart diseases. And because these stone fruits are quite high in vitamins A and E, they are beneficial for eye health too.

Another great benefit of eating apricots is that they are good for your skin! The amount of vitamin C and E they contain can help to protect the skin against UV damage and environmental factors (sun, pollution, cigarette smoke).

And with this recipe, you will be getting double the benefits apricots have to offer since you will be needing both dried apricots as well as jam to make the sauce. The added white wine vinegar enriches the taste of the sauce and thins the consistency. Furthermore, the honey will add to the delicious sweet taste of the apricot sauce while the juice of the lemon will make all the flavours pop.

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Leg of Lamb with Apricot Sauce

Make the centrepiece of the year with a delicious leg of lamb drenched in a scrumptiously sweet homemade apricot sauce.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Global

Keyword Lamb

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Irene Muller

Ingredients

For the Leg of Lamb:

• 2½ kg leg of lamb
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 5 cloves crushed garlic
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 125 ml apricot sauce (recipe below)

For the Apricot Sauce:

• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 10 ml oil
• 1 handful dried apricots finely chopped
• 2 tbsp apricot jam
• 2 tbsp honey
• 30 ml white wine vinegar
• 100 ml water
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lemon Juice

Instructions

For the Apricot Sauce:

• Fry the onion in the oil until translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer slowly for 20 minutes. Stir constantly.
• Finally, squeeze the lemon juice into the sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper, set aside.

For the Lamb:

• Preheat the oven to 140 ° C.
• Cut the skin and fat off the leg of the lamb.
• Brush well with olive oil and garlic, season with salt and pepper spread a layer of apricot sauce over.
• Place in an ovenproof dish with a tight-fitting lid or place the meat in aluminium foil, THEN IN THE OVEN TRAY,  it works well,  and bake for about 3 to 4 hours.
• Remove from the oven and pour off the sauce and add to the apricot sauce. Cook for a few minutes. Season to taste.  set aside but keep it warm.
• Place meat uncovered back in the oven and bake the leg golden brown, let rest for a few minutes, cut, and serve with the sauce.

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