Roast Leg of Lamb

This Roast Leg of Lamb is the ultimate in hassle free entertaining. A traditional dish for Easter, this recipe makes cooking for family and friends just that more enjoyable and also allows you to spend more time with the people in your life.

This is inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe I came across on drizzleanddip.com about a year ago. I loved the simplicity and total low maintenance of the recipe for such an expensive cut of meat and I made it with great success for Easter last year. The recipe might be simple but it definitely delivers on the aromatics and fall off the bone meat which you do not even have to carve.

This year I wanted to tweak it slightly and add a bit of depth to the flavour by using smoked salt and ground cumin and coriander. All those flavours work so well with the garlic, lemon and rosemary without overpowering anything at all. And the smell that permeates through the kitchen is just fantastic!

Whenever I cook with lemons I always remove them immediately as I find that if they remain in the pan too long they impart a bitter flavour. So remove them from the dish as soon as the 20 minute rest period has passed.

Serve it with some crispy roast potatoes, baked spiced pumpkin served at room temperature, roasted aubergines and something green, fresh and crunchy. I think leftovers are best served in a wrap with a garlicky tzatziki and a splash of fiery chili.

Roast Leg of Lamb

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Ingredients

  

• 1 leg of lamb – 2 – 2.5kg
• 2 tsp applewood smoked salt
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• good handful of fresh rosemary on the stalk
• 2 whole heads of garlic
• 1 lemon cut in half
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

 

• Pre heat the oven to the highest it will go.
• Mix the salt, coriander, cumin and pepper and rub the leg of lamb well with the mix
• Cut one head of garlic in half sideways and place at the bottom of a large oven dish with sides along with the 2 lemon halves.
• Scatter half the rosemary stalks into the pan and place the lamb on top of this bed of aromatics.
• Break the cloves of the other head of garlic and scatter these around and on top of the meat along with the rest of the rosemary.
• Seal the whole tray tightly with heavy-duty aluminium foil.
• Place in the hot oven and leave for 5 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 170C and leave it to roast for 4 hours. Do not open the meat at all during this period.
• After 4 hours remove the lamb from the oven and let it rest for 20 minutes while still tightly covered.
• Once the meat has been removed from the pan quickly make a gravy.
• Skim of the fat, mash a few of the cooked cloves of garlic and heat with the pan juices and some lamb stock.
• Adapted from Jamie Oliver

This is another recipe that I have developed for My Collections with products available on the site. My Collections is a treasure-trove of the best food, adventures and stories that the world has to offer. It’s the flavour of the unknown – an online wandering goods market of unique tastes, sensations and new adventures. Go have a look!