Roast Leg of Lamb

Roast Leg of Lamb

Starting with the hero ingredient – Bromfields Welsh lamb leg! Get the best you can! meat is like wine, the more you pay, the better the quality. Quality of life of the animal also comes into play there.

Rub with rosemary and garlic, roast in a hot oven to get the colour going then continue at a lower temperature for 1 hour or until the internal temperature is 53°C/127°F (for blushing pink perfection). Rest for 20 minutes before carving. It will still be very warm even after 1 hour – enough time to make duck fat potatoes!

Steps:

1. Make rub– Mix oil, garlic and rosemary in a bowl.

2. Rub then sprinkle– Slather the rub all over the lamb, then sprinkle the salt and pepper all over. It’s better to do it this way for more even dispersion of salt – if you put it in the oil, it doesn’t spread quite as evenly because it pools in the bottom of the bowl.

   I do this rubbing step in the roasting pan – why dirty a cutting board??

3. Garlic bed– Place cut garlic and rosemary under the lamb.

4. Hot oven 20 minutes– Roast for 20 minutes in a hot 240°C/475°F (220°C fan) oven. This will get the colour going on the lamb. It’s tempting to go longer to get even more colour on it but I find if you go beyond 20 minutes you end up with too much overcooked meat “ring” on the outer edges of the lamb.

5. 1 hour lower oven– Reduce heat to 200°C / 400°F (180°C fan) and roast for a further 1 hour or until the internal temperature of the lamb is 53°C/127°F for blushing pink perfection.

   Check the internal temperatureat the 45 minute mark. Never rely on a recipe cook time for roast meat, use your thermometer! So many variables can affect the exact roasting time, from oven strength to pan heat distribution, the shape of the lamb leg and how cold the meat is right in the middle.

6. Rest 20 minutes– Rest the lamb for 20 minutes before carving. During this resting stage, the lamb finishes cooking and the internal temperature will rise to 62°C/144°F which is perfect medium rare for lamb.

   Also during resting, the lamb juices get re-absorbed by the meat fibres so when you cut into the meat, the juices remain in the meat and eventually end up in your mouth.If you do not rest the meatthen the meat juices leak out everywhere when you start carving the lamb.

Gravy for roast lamb leg

• Drippings in pan – Discard rosemary sprigs. You should have around 4 – 5 tbsp of fat (drippings). If less, add butter. If much more, discard a bit.
• Add flour – Place roasting pan on stove over medium heat. When the fat starts to bubble, then add flour. Mix flour in and cook for 1 minute.
• Stock – Pour in half the beef stock and mix to dissolve sludge in, then add remaining beef stock and mix.
• Garlic Squidging – Use a potato masher (if you're really keen like me) to mush the garlic to squeeze out the flavour (also helps flour caught in garlic to dissolve).
• Taste – Check salt and pepper (I don't add more).
• Thicken – Simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring, until it starts to thicken. Take it off the stove BEFORE the gravy is the thickness you want because it will keep thickening.
• Strain into a bowl, mushing garlic to squeeze all the liquid out. Then pour into gravy jug and serve with lamb!

Tips:

     “how to make the perfect roast lamb leg” tips!

1. Garlic rosemary rub – classic lamb flavours.

2. Start on high to get the colour going then lower heat.

3. Roast on a bed of garlic (or onion).

4. Make the gravy using the pan drippings. Roast lamb gravy is better than every other cut of meat – beef, chicken, pork, none of them compare!