Food & Wine

Take a 5-lb boneless leg of lamb (Costco) and cut off the net or strings that hold it together. Lay it out flat or butterflied, and trim any bits that offend you.

Make a marinade: Take 2 whole lemons, cut them into chunks and remove seeds. Smash 5-6 cloves of garlic and discard the papery skins. Pull the leaves off of a couple large sprigs of rosemary. Put all this into a food processor or blender with a couple glugs of olive oil and lots of salt and pepper. If you don't have the equipment, just chop it all up on a board. Pour your marinade into a large zip-lock bag or a bowl. Put the meat in, seal the bag and smash it all around with your hands to get the marinade everywhere. Let it rest for 2-24 hours (my usual last-minute prep gave me 2 hours in the bag). Remove an hour before cooking so the meat will come to room temperature.

Put the lamb in a large roasting pan (aluminum foil or traditional) and put it into a 425ºF / 220ºC oven. 

Cook for about 45 minutes, checking at 30 and 40 minutes for temperature of about 140ºF or 60ºC. 

I got distracted and it got a bit too hot before I expected (but it was still juicy). Take the meat out of the oven and cover with foil. Let it rest 15 minutes.

The short cooking time means you won't have a lot of charred bits of meat (and the pan won't be a mess).

Drain off the juices from the pan through a sieve into a measuring cup to remove all the lemon peel etc. 

If you have a separator, take out most of the fat. If not, let the fat rise to the surface and use a facial tissue to soak up excess. 

Put the juices back into a smaller pan to simmer and reduce in volume. You can add some wine or seasoning if you like.

Pour the sauce over the meat just before you serve it.

I also had some home-made apple mint jelly to put alongside the lamb.

I cut up half the leg and put it into a metal/ceramic dish because we were eating outside (social distancing) and it keeps the meat warmer.

Same with the Yukon Gold roasted potatoes which cooked in their own cast-iron pan on the rack underneath the lamb. I made broccoli too but that's boring in a photo.

(I made it early)



We were also tasting wine and had about 5-6 bottles open. Sorry I didn't get any wines in action, but white, rose and red all found fans with this dinner.



Cazalea

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