Lamb Belly Roulade with Apple and Elderberry Preserve
Last weekend the meat stall at the market has lamb belly for sale. As coincidence would have it I had for the first time ever tasted this delicous cut of meat at Cava Tapas bar in Galway the previous week.
Lamb belly has a bit more fat on it than say leg, but it is superbly flavorsome and when slowly cooked and served with a sweet condiment it is hard to beat. It is also an economic piece of meat with no wastage and cheaper per kilo than other so called prime cuts of lamb.
I laid out the belly cut on a chopping board and seasoned with cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. I crushed a couple of clovers of garlic and sprinkled with a good pinch of dried rosemary. I then placed apple slices along the length of the meat before rolling it and securing it with wooden skewers. I spread some elderberries over the rolled meat and placed a large onion quartered in the roasting tin.
The weight of the meat was about 1.5 kg, I roasted the meat at 160 degrees Celcius for just over two hours. After removing from the oven I allowed it to cool and then removed the skewers and carved into slices. I served it with elderberry preserve that I had made last autumn. Delicious.
This meat was also great when cold and made a great sandwich between slices of homemade spelt bread. Yum
Ciaran The Gardener 