Leg of Lamb

[Mikey]

We traditionally roast a leg of lamb for dinner on Easter Sunday. I'll occasionally grill a boneless leg from Costco during the rest of the year, which is pretty easy. The bone-in roast takes a little more work (not a lot more) and time.

I started with a 7 lb bone-in leg of American lamb. Took it out of the fridge for a little more than an hour before getting started. I preheated the oven to 400 deg and minced up about 3 or 4 tablespoons of fresh rosemary from our garden, and 8 large garlic cloves, and combined the garlic and rosemary in a bowl.

After squeezing a lemon I rubbed the juice over the roast, and then patted the surface with the rosemary and garlic mixture, sprayed with some EVOO, and then added liberal amounts of salt and pepper.

This is what it looked like before going in the oven:




After 30 minutes at 400 deg I reduced the temp to 350. After another 30 minutes I added some red potatoes. I started checking the internal temperature after 60 minutes at 350, but it wasn't ready (125-130 deg) for another half hour or so. At that point I took it out of the oven and let it sit while putting together the salad.

Here's the final result:




I should have gotten a picture after slicing it, because it came out a perfect medium rare. The crust on top was incredible.

Served with homemade tatziki and hummus, roasted potatoes and a large salad.

[missjo]

I like to cut slits in my leg of lamb & slide slivers of Garlic in them them marinate for 48 hours in a good cab sav
before slow cooking in a med/ low oven

I found the American lamb I tried to be a little tasteless compared to the lamb we get here, I think it's the diet
You haven't lived till you've had saltbush lamb, it is heaven!!
http://www.saltbushlivestock.com.au/bultarra.html

[Mikey]

I sometimes do the slit thing as well (how me mum used to do it).

Funny, my butcher says the same thing about New Zealand lamb (which we get a lot of around here), that you said about American lamb. It does depend on the diet, and how long they wait to slaughter the animal. My guy gets Colorado grass fed lamb, which is pretty tasty.

[Goober McTuber]

When it comes to the taste of sheep, I'll defer to Mace.

[Mikey]

Forgot to add - if I have a bottle of good cab, I'd much rather drink it than soak some meat in it which seems pretty wasteful.
If you're going to use red wine as a marinade, a cheap one generally works as well as a "good" one.

If you don't want to go too cheap, this makes a good compromise. Not sure if it's available in Ozzieland but it's pretty ubiquitous over here. My wife uses it in her spaghetti sauce all the time.