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Roast leg of lamb

Neil Perry
Neil Perry

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Roast leg of lamb.
Roast leg of lamb.WILLIAM MEPPEM

What could be more Australian and '80s than roast lamb with veg and mint sauce?

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Ingredients

  • 2-3kg leg of lamb, shank on

  • sea salt

  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

  • 2 heads garlic, cloves separated, skins on

  • 1/2 bunch thyme

  • freshly ground pepper

Method

  1. Remove lamb from the refrigerator 2 hours before cooking and season with salt. Let the meat come to room temperature.

    Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Rub the lamb with extra virgin olive oil and put in a large roasting tin. Place the garlic and the thyme around the meat. Cook for 20 minutes, then turn the lamb over and reduce the oven temperature to 160ºC. Turn the lamb every 20 minutes and push the garlic around in the juices and oil to keep it moist.

    After 1 hour, check the meat's core temperature. The desired resting temperature is 60C, so factoring in the residual heat, aim for 55-56C.

    Once that temperature has been reached, remove the tin from the oven and try to get the oven temperature down to 60C for resting, holding the door ajar if necessary. Once the oven has reached the right temperature, remove the thyme from the dish and return the lamb to the oven to rest for 30 minutes.

    To carve the lamb, place the leg on a chopping board, positioning it on one of its sides. Hold the shank with a tea towel, take a sharp knife, and starting from the ball at the end of the bone, cut down the bone, removing one of the large muscles. Turn the lamb around and remove the rest of the meat by cutting down each side of the bone. You should have two large pieces of meat on the board.

    Slice each piece straight down, as if you were going down the length of the leg bone. This will give semi-circular slices that will be across the grain, making the lamb more tender. You can cut the shank off now and fight over who gets to eat it.

    Place three to five slices on each plate and spoon over some of the fat and pan juices. Give a good grind of pepper and serve with mint jelly and the sides.

    Serve with:

    http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/cook/recipe/creamed-spinach-20140929-3guth.html?rand=1411969146801

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Neil PerryNeil Perry is a restaurateur, chef and former Good Weekend columnist.

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