{Thai Roast Lamb & Pumpkin Relish}

Our little family loves a sunday roast, I love the familiar smell of it baking away as we go about our sunday afternoon, yesterday all my boys were gardening and I was inside pottering, drinking tea and reading those little magazines that come with newspapers these days, throw in a quick tidy up, a vacuum and a mop of the the floors and I'm ready for my first vino.

The thing about a roast is by the time spring comes around I am pretty sick of roast spuds and gravy so my mission was to find a more summery version. This one is loosely based on something I saw on the telly from the chef at Longrain, it was really good, really really good actually, he of course made his yellow curry paste from scratch, I opened a jar, whatever, I will definitely make it again, the relish which is really a salad is just gorgeous, so summery with a bit of zing from the ginger and chilli, we gobbled it all up with a couple more glasses of pinot and were happy campers.

...the lamb
1 lamb roast (I used a half leg)
2 tbsp thai yellow curry paste
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil


Preheat your oven to 140. With a sharp knife score the lamb and place it in your baking dish, mix the curry paste with the fish sauce and oil and rub it into the lamb. Pop it into your oven and roast for 3 hours, basting a few times. Remove from oven and let it rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.


...the relish
100ml rice vinegar
75g castor sugar
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 coriander roots, scraped and cleaned
1 lebanese cucumber, diced
1 small shallot, peeled and finely sliced
1 x 2.5cm piece ginger, peeled and julienned
1 long red chilli, seeded and julienned
1 small bunch coriander leaves
300g diced steamed pumpkin


Bring to the boil in a small saucepan the vinegar, sugar, garlic and coriander roots, make sure the sugar has dissolved. Strain and cool completely then add the ginger and chilli. Gently combine the cucumber, pumpkin, shallot and coriander leaves in your salad bowl then pour over the dressing.