Leg of Lamb

(All Recipes have Gluten-Free Options)

Butterflied Lamb with Herby Lemon and Paprika Marinade (Serves 6)

Cooking a leg of lamb butterflied, off the bone, reduces the cooking time and makes it much easier to slice and serve. This recipe from Rick Stein is particularly flavoursome with a subtly spiced marinade. There is no need to marinate it for long, 30 minutes is all it needs,  and better still, it will be cooked in 30 mins! I like to serve this with ‘Concetta’s’ sliced baked potatoes and ‘Green Beans with Shallots & Sherry Vinegar’ (recipes here!). (Ask your butcher to butterfly the leg of lamb)

1 x 2.5kg leg of lamb, boned and butterflied

For the marinade:

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried red chilli flakes

6 teaspoons chopped rosemary

6 sprigs thyme, leaves picked

1 fresh bay leaf, finely chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce

2 tablespoons sweet smoked paprika

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

  1. Mix the marinade ingredients together. Lay out the butterflied lamb, it should be an even thickness throughout – you can cover it with clingfilm and bash the surface with a rolling pin to flatten out any of the thicker sections. Rub the marinade all over the lamb and set aside in a roasting tin, skin side up, for about 30 minutes.
  2. Roast the lamb in a preheated oven, 200’c fan, for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 160’c and roast for a further 10 minutes (this will give you pink lamb, if you prefer it less so, cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover with foil and rest for 15 minutes before carving into thick slices and serving with some of the meat juices.

Roast Leg of Lamb with Redcurrant & Mint Sauce (Serves 6)

I have combined two recipes for this Roast Leg of Lamb dish. The redcurrant sauce is from Delia Smith’s ‘Summer Collection’ cookbook, whilst the lamb is from Diana Henry’s ‘How to Eat a Peach’. The lamb is stuffed with herbs and lemon zest, the flavours are wonderful, particularly in the spring, and I find that Diana Henry’s cooking times result in a perfectly cooked, pink, meat (Delia’s recipe for the lamb leg is a little more dated, the meat is cooked too well done for my taste). The redcurrant & mint in the sauce is a match made in heaven and it perfectly complements the lamb. This leg of lamb is delicious served with ‘Fine Green Beans with Almonds’ and potatoes of your choice – I am rather partial to serving ‘Concetta’s Potatoes’ with this dish (recipes here).

For the Lamb:

1.8 -2kg leg of lamb

10g parsley leaves, roughly chopped

10 thyme sprigs, leaves picked

2 rosemary sprigs, needles chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped plus another 6 cloves peeled and left whole

6 tablespoons olive oil

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Sea salt and black pepper

  1. The day before you are going to cook the lamb, put the herbs, 4 chopped garlic cloves, sea salt and black pepper into a mortar and grind to a paste, gradually adding the olive oil and lemon zest. With a sharp knife make incisions all over the lamb and loosen the meat round the protruding bone (at tapered end of the joint) to about one-third of the way into the joint. Cut the remaining 6 cloves of garlic into slivers and tuck these into the incisions you have made. Rub the herb paste all over the lamb, pushing it down inside the incisions and around the bone. Cover loosely with cling film or foil and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, bringing it to room temperature before cooking – this will take around 2 hours.
  2. When you are ready to cook the lamb, put it in a roasting tin in a preheated oven, 220’c fan, and cook for 15 minutes.
  3. Then, reduce the oven to 180’c fan, and continue to roast the lamb for another 45 minutes (allow a few minutes longer if the lamb leg is larger).
  4. Remove from the oven and cover well with foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, if there are any juices left in the tin, reheat them to serve alongside the meat – this is not supposed to be a ‘gravy’, just a light jus.
  6. Serve the lamb with ‘Redcurrant & Mint Sauce’. This is also good with ‘Fine Green Beans with Almonds’ and ‘Concetta’s Potatoes’ (all recipes below).

For the Redcurrant & Mint Sauce:

3 tablespoons redcurrant jelly

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 tablespoons mint, chopped

Sea salt and black pepper

  1. Put the redcurrant jelly and the vinegar in a small saucepan, whisk over a gentle heat until the jelly has melted into the vinegar.
  2. Add the chopped mint, seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Roast Lamb & Cider served with Flageolet Beans (serves 6) 

Cider with lamb may sound like a strange combination, but believe me it works beautifully and is absolutely made for more autumnal days. Like all of the recipes I share, this is very easy to cook – making it possible to cook midweek if you fancy. This recipe is taken from ‘Pure, Simple, Cooking’ by Diana Henry (yes, her again!); she recommends that this dish is served with flageolet or cannellini beans (recipe here) – and of course she is absolutely right!

1 Leg of lamb (approx. 1.8kg -2kg), trimmed of excess fat

2 large cloves garlic, cut into slivers

2-3 sprigs thyme

50g unsalted butter, softened

250ml dry cider

A good slug of calvados or brandy

570ml chicken or lamb stock

175ml crème frâiche or double cream

Sea salt and black pepper

  1. Make small incisions all over the leg and stuff with a slivers of garlic and a little thyme. Rub the butter all over, stuffing some down the incisions as you do so, season generously.
  2. Place in a preheated oven, 220’c fan, roast for 15 minutes then turn down the heat to 180’c, and continue to roast for another 45 -50mins.
  3. Remove the lamb to rest in a warm place covered with foil for about 15 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile pour the cooking juices into a jug and skim off the fat and discard.
  5. Set the roasting tin over a medium heat, add the cider and calvados, boil to reduce by two-thirds. Then add the stock and the reserved cooking juices, reduce this  by two-thirds, then add the crème frâiche (or cream). Boil until slightly syrupy.
  6. Serve the lamb, sliced, with the sauce in a warm gravy boat and the flageolet beans on the side (recipe here).