Cider and honey roast lamb

Doesn't the picture at the top of this post look good? Yes, indeedy - it sure tasted good. This was cider and honey roast lamb, complete with veges, and is a recipe from none other than Gordon Ramsay in this month's BBC Australian Good Food magazine.

This dish is simple to make, but tastes oh so good. To make it, you will need:

1 leg of lamb, with the fat trimmed and skin scored
cooking oil
3/4 garlic cloves, skin on
fresh thyme
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 apples
500ml apple cider
2 tablespoons honey
300ml chicken stock

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Calculate the cooking time for the lamb (to get it medium like mine, you will need to roast it for 15 minutes per 450g).

Score the fat of the lamb with a knife in a diamond pattern, and spray with oil, and rub with salt and pepper. Spray your roasting pan with oil, and pop in the lamb, then put the garlic and thyme in and around the lamb. Pour the lemon juice over the lamb, then place it in the oven and roast it for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, peel, core and quarter the apples. Take the lamb out of the oven and place the apple pieces around the lamb. Reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees Celsius and pour the cider over the lamb. Turn the lamb over and drizzle half of the honey over it. Replace the lamb in the oven and roast for a further 30 minutes.

Turn the lamb again, baste it in the pan juices, drizzle over the remaining honey, and roast until the lamb has finished cooking.

Remove the cooked lamb from the oven and cover it with foil to rest. To make gravy for the lamb, press the apples and garlic from the pan with a fork to release their juices, then pour the pan juices into a sieve over a saucepan, and continue to press down on the pan contents so that all jucies are released. After discarding the "flotsom" seived out of the pan juices, bring the pan juices to the boil on the stovetop, then add the stock. Bring the mixture to the boil, and then allow it to simmer until it thickens to the desired consistency. Season the gravy and pour into a jug to serve with the carved lamb.

I cooked roast potatoes, roast pumpkin and peas to accompany my lamb, but you may have whatever you fancy.