Corned leg of lamb with tomato relish

Corned leg of lamb Put the bay leaves, peppercorns, cardamom, mustard seeds, dried mustard powder, vinegar and sugar into a large boiling pot – top with water and then immerse the leg into it. Cover by at least 6 centimetres of water. Bring to the boil and then simmer until lamb is cooked. Allow 20 per each 500 gms and 10 minutes to rest before carving.

minutes before the leg is cooked, add the potatoes, onion and carrots and cooked until both the vegetables and meat are cooked through. The vegetables may have to be looked at as the size will determine the cooking time and these must not be mushy and collapsing.

Remove the whole pot from the heat and lift out the meat to rest. Lift out the vegetables with a slotted spoon and keep hot.

To serve, slice the meat and heap it on the equally distributed vegetables. Have the relish on the side along with steamed green vegetables of your choice.

Tomato Relish Remove the brown connective piece from the bottom of the tomatoes and dice roughly.

Put all ingredients into a suitable size pot and simmer until the onion the flavours combine. The ingredients will produce their own liquid and must be stirred constantly, especially when the liquid is nearly evaporated. It is at time the relish can stick and burn on the bottom of the pan.

Remove from the heat, stir in salt, (optional) and cool before storing in airtight sterilised containers. Will keep for at least 2 week in the refrigerator and is best kept for 2 days before use.

I love this relish served with corned meat of any type but especially corned leg of lamb or mutton if you can get it. I cook my leg of lamb in plenty of water on the rolling boil/simmer with bay leaves, whole peppercorns, cardamom pods, mustard seeds white vinegar and brown sugar. Secret is not to boil these meats as they drastically reduce in size and let the meat cook and set in the cooking liquid.

Serve the meat sliced and with vegetables that have been cooked in with the meat the end of its cooking process — say potatoes, pumpkin with the skin on (to stop it falling into mush), carrots and onions. Onion left whole are good and if you do decide to cut them into quarters for quicker cooking, leave some of the root on before slicing or otherwise the onions will go all over the place.