Roasted Lamb Leg

: food, March 07 2021 ▶

Yep, roasted lamb leg. On the butcher's schematic - it is the thing in the back of the poor (but delicious) animal. The front one is called "shoulder" and the "shanks" are the bottom parts of the front and back legs. Do not let anyone bullshit you - this recipe is neither quick, nor a cheap one. You need minimum 4 hours (roasting) plus the overall preparation. A good piece of lamb is a costly one. What you see here was ~3kg. Anyway - let's get down to business.
The "before" pic:

The making:
- I always rinse and pat dry any meat,...just in case.
- There is a thin membrane covering the meat. Some people remove it, but I leave it as a protective cover. Trim all other non-meaty parts.
- Using a sharp, thin knife - make holes at 5-7cm uniform distance from each other.
- The rub - 2ts salt, 2ts paprika, 1ts cayenne pepper, 1/2 ts black pepper, 8ts sunflower oil.
- Rub it!
- Put 1/2 garlic clove (or even the whole clove if it is too small) and some rosemary in each hole you made. Do not let the garlic to stick out of the meat or it will fall off during the roasting. I would have used fresh rosemary if I could find one...
- Use a tray with a rack, that can fit the leg. If you do not have such, you can put some fresh onion (scallion) or leek, so it lifts the meat ~1cm.
- Put some water (or beer...yeaah shame) in the tray, so it barely touches the meat.
- Cover the whole thing with aluminum foil and close any holes.
- Roasting time (with fan):
1/2 hour at 200C
3 hours at 160C
uncover the meat (remove the foil)
1/2 hour at 160C
- Remove from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Under NO circumstances serve this cold!!
- It goes pretty well with mashed potatoes, dry rose` or wheat beer.