Easter is pending, the days are getting shorter and cooler and the time is now positively perfect for enjoying a roast leg of lamb with friends and family on an idle afternoon or evening.

Try not to be tempted to buy a boned leg under the notion that it is easier to cook and carve. You will never achieve the succulence of meat you achieve from cooking meat on the bone. Clearly though, a whole leg of lamb is quite an investment for the dinner table and the meal should be given due credit and planning.

You need to start with your butcher and order the lamb ahead of time. Most butchers in their wisdom remove the shank or cut the shank in half, bending it in on itself. If you have a baking dish large enough and an oven that can accommodate it, I would recommend that you request that the shank be left intact. This allows for presentation of a more attractive leg and ease of carving.

When you get the lamb home remove it from any plastic wrapping and place it on a platter, cover with clean cling film and store in the refrigerator.

The day that you are cooking the lamb keep in mind that meat brought to room temperature will always cook better than chilled meat that gets rammed into the oven direct from the fridge. Ideally allow 1 to 2 hours, for meat to achieve room temperature; just keep it covered on the bench top.

You also need to consider that the cooked meat will require at least half an hour resting time. This period can be extended without ramification, so long as the meat remains covered in a warm, draught free place. During this time, the meat does continue cooking and the juices retract into the flesh so long as you abstain from jabbing at it with a knife to check for doneness. Resting produces wonderfully succulent meat.

Another consideration is what to serve with this versatile dish. There is the traditional French or English version, familiar to most Australian households, where the roast meat is served with a dark gravy or jus, roasted potatoes and one or two other vegetables and perhaps a green salad.

My mother in law taught me, very early in the piece, the virtues of serving meals at room temperature rather than battling to get everything piping hot from the oven. This works well for what our family grew to call “Greek Lamb”. The roasted meat is served with tzatziki, a tray of roasted potatoes or a bowl of rice and a Greek Salad. The Indian version in our household is the lamb served with yoghurt, some rice, dhal and a spicy eggplant puree.

They are all perfectly delicious and essentially based around cooking a leg of lamb as described below.

Olive oil is probably the best of fats to rub into roasting meats in terms of producing the best color and flavour. Salt and pepper are really the only other things you need and, perhaps, a bulb of garlic popped into the pan. This is useful as you can mash the cooked garlic into a jus if you are making one, so long as the garlic has not burnt.

Many recipes call for slitting the leg in places and stuffing small holes with ground herbs or garlic, adding wine to the pan and basting the leg during cooking. This all works well but adds to fiddle, when a perfectly good result can be attained by the simple method given here.

Have a go and add complications another time if you think it is necessary.

ROAST LAMB RECIPE

Ingredients

Serves 8

3 kg leg of lamb

¼ - ½ cup olive oil

1 tbsp salt and grindings of fresh black pepper

A bulb of garlic (if making a jus from the juices in the pan)

½ cup water, meat or vegetable stock or ver juice (optional)

2 tbsp of cream (optional)

A sprig of rosemary to garnish (optional)

Equipment

A shallow baking dish that fits the lamb snugly, this will allow for the juices to collect, rather than burn off during cooking on the base of too large a pan.

A sharpened carving knife and fork

A platter for resting and serving the meat

Method

Remove the lamb from the fridge, 1 – 2 hours before cooking

Preheat the oven to 230c

Rub the lamb over all surfaces with the oil, salt and pepper

Place the lamb into the oven and cook for 10 minutes

Turn the temperature down to 190c and cook for a further 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending upon degree of doneness you prefer. (Allow 10 – 15 minutes per 500g for total cooking time for pink lamb, 15 – 20 minutes per 500g for medium cooked) Don’t cook a 3kg leg though for longer than 1 hour and 20 minutes.

If you are roasting potatoes, bake them in a separate dish, putting them into the oven 1 hour before you are planning to serve the meal.

Once cooked to your liking, remove the leg from the oven and place it on a heated platter. Cover and rest the meat for at least 30 minutes before carving.

While the meat is resting, if you intend to make a jus, remove any fat from the pan and deglaze the pan with a little water, ver juice or stock. Sometimes it is easier to manage this by transferring the juices to a smaller saucepan to work with.

Heat slowly and season to taste, adding a little cream.

Return any juices from the resting meat platter to the jus and stir in. Strain into a warmed jug or gravy boat and pass separately at the table.

To Carve the Lamb

Carving a leg of lamb competently at the table adds wonderful ceremony to the meal. The intact shank bone makes a perfect handle for managing this easily.

Simply rest the lamb on a large platter, taking the end of the leg in one hand and the knife in the other. Use a napkin or clean tea towel to wrap the end of the leg if necessary. Carve parallel to the bone, away from you, creating large thin slices from the thickest part of the leg. When you are ready, turn the leg over and carve the meat away from the underside of the bone, and finally from the shank. These three areas provide differently flavoured meat with different degrees of doneness.

Serve each guest a slice of each area and enjoy!

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