24 hours beforehand, make the stuffing. Chop the apricot coarsely, mix with breadcrumbs and chopped onions.
Melt the butter, pour over, add honey, salt, pepper and thyme. Mix well together, then mix in beaten egg.
Make marinade by mixing all the ingredients together. Bone or have boned the lamb (tunnel bone for stuffing). Stuff the cavity loosely. Sew up the opening.
Put lamb in a polyethylene bag long enough to hold it comfortably, add bones. Pour over the marinade, tie the top with a bag seal, sucking out excess air. Stand in a bowl (to catch leeks). Marinade overnight, turning from time to time.
Preheat oven to 350F. Remove lamb from marinade and dry well. Drain marinade and fry vegetables in roasting pan very briefly.
Place lamb on top and roast 25 minutes/pound oven ready weight. Baste frequently with marinade while cooking.
Meanwhile, make a little lamb stock from bones. When done, take out of oven. Remove strings from joint and leave to rest 15 minutes while making the gravy, then carve crosswise.
For the gravy, remove vegetables from roasting tin, pour off roasting juices, leaving 2 tablespoons fat in pan. Fry 2 tablespoons flour in this, return aqueous part of roasting juices and remaining marinade. Add lamb stock if needed. Season to taste.
