Perfect roast leg of lamb
With rosemary, garlic & anchovies
2 hrs 20 mins plus resting
Not Too Tricky
serves 8
About the recipe
A perfectly roasted leg of lamb is a beautiful thing and here I want to guide you through the preparing, roasting and resting of this incredible joint of meat that will guarantee juiciness and flavour. There are many ways to flavour roast lamb, but I’m going old-school with garlic and rosemary, which I love. Trust me on the anchovies, it really works.
Ingredients
2 sticks of celery
2 carrots
2 onions
2 bay leaves
1 large leg of higher-welfare lamb (2.4kg)
olive oil
½ a bunch of fresh rosemary (15g)
4 cloves of garlic
red wine vinegar
optional: 9 anchovy fillets
Top Tip
– Use your leftover vegetables to make an incredible gravy.
HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR LAMB COOKED?
– Medium: For meat that’s blushing, cook for 1 hour 10 minutes with 30 minutes resting. You want an internal temperature of 62°C.
– Medium well done: For meat that’s perfectly pink, cook for 1 hour 20 minutes with 30 minutes resting. You need to reach an internal temperature of 73°C.
– Well done: For meat that has no trace of pink, cook for 2 hours 15 minutes with 30 minutes resting. You want an internal temperature of 83°C.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7. Roughly chop the celery, carrots and onions, throwing into a large roasting tray as you go, with the bay leaves.
- With a sharp, pointed knife, follow the lamb bone down about 10cm to 12cm (you are just making a ‘tunnel’ where you are cutting the meat away from the bone). Do this from the top end and the bottom end. Pierce the skin at an angle with a sharp pointed knife 6 or 8 times at random around the leg, then open up the incisions by poking your fingers down them to make a bit of space. Rub the lamb all over with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.
- Strip the leaves off the rosemary sprigs and peel and finely slice the garlic, then toss in a little drizzle of olive oil and a splash of red wine vinegar. Push a little rosemary, a couple of slices of garlic and an anchovy fillet (if using) into each hole, adding any leftovers and a good splash of water to the trivet tray with the veg.
- Place the lamb directly on the bars of the middle shelf of the oven, and place the tray on the shelf beneath. Turn the oven down to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and cook to your liking (see timings below).
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