With spring finally here, I went straight for a delicious spring lamb roast, perfect for Easter celebrations! My mum actually brought the lamb over and asked me to cook it, so it’s another Rare Breed variety, and it’s only half a leg because there are only three of us to feed and this is more than enough. I love lamb so any leftovers are fine with me because it means lamb filled pitas which are yummy with a bit of hummus and some salad.
You end up with moist, tender cuts of lamb, buttery broccoli and creamy potatoes dressed in a rich gravy. It's perfect for Easter, simple to make and provides much loved leftovers for midnight snacks. :)
Ingredients
half leg of Lamb
handful of Rosemary stalks
bulb Garlic
1/2 tbsp Anchovy paste
Salt & Pepper
head of Broccoli, cut into florets
6 Potatoes, finely sliced
50g double Cream
Butter
dried Mint
Recipe
Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees. Prepare your lamb by cutting holes all over the meat with the tip of your knife. Then stuff each hole with a sliver of garlic, a smear of anchovy paste and a sprig of rosemary. Season the rest of the meat with salt, pepper, some dried mint a bit of rosemary. Pop in the oven for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 180 and cook for a further 50 minutes.
Slice your potatoes and grease an oven proof dish with a bit of butter. Place the first layer of potatoes at the bottom of the dish ensuring it covers the whole base, sprinkle with a small amount of finely chopped garlic, salt, pepper and drop of cream. Layer the next lot of potatoes, press them down, then sprinkle again with the garlic, salt, pepper and cream. Continue until you've reached the top.
At the top, press down again to compress the potatoes. You can keep them pressed until you're ready to cook them. When ready, add any remaining cream and a knob of butter. Cook in the oven on the bottom shelf with the meat for 1 hour.
When the lamb is cooked, take it out to rest for 15 minutes to make your gravy and steam your broccoli florets. Once tender, toss in butter, mint and salt & pepper. To make the gravy, add a bit of water if the bottom of the roasting tray is dry and bring to the boil on the stove. Add red wine and leave for 5 minutes to reduce, then add a roux and whisk until combined. Add herbs and spices as required and check seasoning. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until thickened.
When the potatoes are ready, carve your lamb, spoon out some potatoes, and lay on a side of broccoli. Drizzle with gravy and eat.
I went for a very French way of cooking my lamb leg. I made little holes around the joint with my knife and stuffed them with ¼ clove of garlic, some rosemary and a squeeze of anchovy paste. I’m using a paste instead of anchovy fillets as I find these melt ‘dissolve’ away to nothing much easier than the fillets, which in turn makes it much better to sneak into dishes.
To accompany the lamb in the oven and sticking to the French theme, I made potato dauphinoise. It’s such an easy dish to make, and it produces a wonderful side dish that makes it look like you’ve put a lot more effort in! I think potatoes are delicious as they are anyway so adding the cream and the garlic just makes it more scrumptious. The garlic in this works perfectly with the lamb so it’s a great accompaniment.
When you slice into the potatoes you see the layers of potato and the layers of sauce in between, so your potatoes are never dry and seasoned inside and out, with a crispy buttery topping. To perfect this, you need to have evenly sliced fairly thin potatoes. It would best to slice them using a mandolin, but I slice them by hand and make them double thickness of a regular crisp. Keep the best looking slices to put on the top.
I also cooked some broccoli to add a bit of green to the dish on the side. Steamed lightly then tossed in a bit a melted butter and seasoned with salt and pepper, so simple it hurts. :P
The gravy was made with the roasting jus from the pan mixed with a roux and a splash of red wine. I let that simmer for about 10 minutes until it had thickened to sprinkle over the lamb. Mint sauce would be perfect on the side as well but I skipped that out.
You end up with moist, tender cuts of lamb, buttery broccoli and creamy potatoes dressed in a rich gravy. It's perfect for Easter, simple to make and provides much loved leftovers for midnight snacks. :)
Ingredients
half leg of Lamb
handful of Rosemary stalks
bulb Garlic
1/2 tbsp Anchovy paste
Salt & Pepper
head of Broccoli, cut into florets
6 Potatoes, finely sliced
50g double Cream
Butter
dried Mint
Recipe
Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees. Prepare your lamb by cutting holes all over the meat with the tip of your knife. Then stuff each hole with a sliver of garlic, a smear of anchovy paste and a sprig of rosemary. Season the rest of the meat with salt, pepper, some dried mint a bit of rosemary. Pop in the oven for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 180 and cook for a further 50 minutes.
Slice your potatoes and grease an oven proof dish with a bit of butter. Place the first layer of potatoes at the bottom of the dish ensuring it covers the whole base, sprinkle with a small amount of finely chopped garlic, salt, pepper and drop of cream. Layer the next lot of potatoes, press them down, then sprinkle again with the garlic, salt, pepper and cream. Continue until you've reached the top.
At the top, press down again to compress the potatoes. You can keep them pressed until you're ready to cook them. When ready, add any remaining cream and a knob of butter. Cook in the oven on the bottom shelf with the meat for 1 hour.
When the lamb is cooked, take it out to rest for 15 minutes to make your gravy and steam your broccoli florets. Once tender, toss in butter, mint and salt & pepper. To make the gravy, add a bit of water if the bottom of the roasting tray is dry and bring to the boil on the stove. Add red wine and leave for 5 minutes to reduce, then add a roux and whisk until combined. Add herbs and spices as required and check seasoning. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until thickened.
When the potatoes are ready, carve your lamb, spoon out some potatoes, and lay on a side of broccoli. Drizzle with gravy and eat.
1 comment:
Perfect, this is the exact recipe I've been looking for!
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