1 hr plus marinating & resting
Super easy
serves 8
About the recipe
The beauty of this dish is that you get the smoke and theatre of a barbecued leg of lamb, but the security of knowing that it’s properly cooked because you've given it a bit of a head-start in the oven.
Ingredients
3 sticks of lemongrass
5cm piece of ginger
5 cloves of garlic
6 fresh lime leaves
1 big pinch of ground cumin
2 lemons
1 leg of lamb, boned, butterflied – ask your butcher to do this for you
a few sprigs of fresh mint
fat-free natural yoghurt
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Light the barbecue and prepare a hot side and a cooler side.
- Halve the lemongrass lengthways, and peel and roughly chop the ginger and garlic, then bash in a large pestle and mortar with the lime leaves.
- Add the cumin, finely grate in the zest from 1 lemon, and squeeze in its juice. Mix well.
- Season the lamb with sea salt and black pepper, then rub the marinade all over and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.
- Place the lamb in a snug-fitting roasting tray, cover tightly with a double layer of tin foil, then roast for 40 minutes if you like your meat pink, or slightly longer if you prefer it more well done.
- Transfer the lamb to the hot side of the barbecue for 10 to 15 minutes, or until you have a lovely smoky, crispy surface – it will sizzle and there might even be a few flames, but move it around to stop it burning. Remove to a board to rest.
- Meanwhile, pick, finely chop and place the mint leaves in a bowl, add a few good dollops of yoghurt and a good squeeze of lemon juice, then mix together and season to perfection.
- Slice up the lamb, then serve with the minty yoghurt and wedges of lemon for squeezing over. Delicious served with a seasonal salad.
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