Nothing But Onions

• 4 lb Shoulder of lamb, boned (but not rolled)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp yoghurt
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 oz basmati rice
• 1 oz butter
• 1 oz pine kernels
• 2 oz chopped, dried fruit (e.g. sultanas, dates, peach, apricot)
• Juice and zest of 1 large orange
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• Salt and pepper
• More butter

Get your butcher to bone the shoulder of lamb for you, or if you're like me, do it yourself and make stock out of the bones. If your piece of lamb is rolled, cut the strings and unroll it.

Beat the olive oil and yoghurt together, and stir in crushed garlic clove. Lay the lamb, skin side down and rub the yoghurt mixture into all the nooks and crannies. When done, loosely roll the lamb up, pop it in a bag (or cling-film) and pop it in the fridge to marinade for a while - preferably overnight.

Preheat the oven to 190C.

If the lamb has been in the fridge marinading, take it out now to give it a chance to come back up to room temperature.

Melt the butter in a small pan (one with a lid), and gently cook the onion until soft and translucent. Stir in the rice and pine kernels and cook gently for another couple of minutes.

Put the orange juice into a measuring jug and make up to 1/4 pint with water. Pour into pan, sir, cover and let simmer very gently for about 10 minutes. By this time, the rice should just about be cooked and all the liquid gone. The rice should still have a little bite to it - the lamb juices will help soften it further later.

Grind the coriander seed in a mortar and pestle. Chop the dried fruit. Use whatever mixture you like here - I don't really like raisins and sultanas, so I tend to use things like dates and dried peaches.

Add the coriander, orange zest and dried fruit and stir well. Put to one side to cool. (If you're running behind schedule, you don't really need to leave it to cool, but be prepared to burn your fingers in the next step.)

Roll out the lamb, skin side down, and lay the rice mixture evenly over it. Make sure you push bits into any of the nooks and crannies created by the boning.

Roll the lamb up as tight as you can without squeezing the stuffing out and tie up with string. If you're good at this, you will get a nicely formed cylinder of meat, perhaps tapering slightly to one end. If, like me, you're not, you'll get something that looks like a very lumpy old cushion with its stuffing hanging out. Never mind, it will taste the same whichever...

Put the lamb in a roasting tray and dot a few pieces of butter over it. Season with salt and pepper.

Place in the oven for 1 1/2 -2 hours until cooked, remembering to baste occasionally.

Serve hot, sliced thickly, perhaps with a green salad.