Description
Herb-Crusted and herb stuffed, Roasted Leg of Lamb is an amazingly delicious holiday main course, baked over roasted vegetables. Made with a boneless leg of lamb.
Ingredients
- 3.5 –5 lb leg of lamb – boneless & butterflied (ask your butcher.)
- ½–¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- cracked pepper
Herb Filling and Herb Crust
- 1 cup fresh herbs (a mix of 2 or 3 of the following) thyme, sage, rosemary
- 1 cup Italian parsley ( about a ½ a bunch) tender stems ok
- 10 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ½ tsp salt
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
Mint Caper Gremolata ( optional, served on the side)
- ¼ Cup olive oil
- ⅓ Cup finely chopped mint leaves
- ⅓ Cup finely chopped Italian parsley
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon chopped capers
- 1 finely minced garlic clove
- 2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion or shallot
- salt if necessary
Roasting Vegtables
Instructions
- Pre heat 425 F Oven
- Remove lamb from packaging and pat dry well. Trim away any unwanted fat. A little marbled fat is good, big chunks are not. It’s ok to also remove some or all of the outer layer of fat if that doesn’t appeal to you. (If you want to leave the layer of fat on the roast, score it with a sharp knife in a diagonal criss-cross pattern and at 1-inch intervals just till you hit the meat. Sprinkle all sides with salt and pepper. Place the outer side (side with fat) down.
- Make the herb filling and crust: Place all the herbs, garlic, salt and pepper and lemon zest in a food processor and pulse until it becomes like very coarse sand. Add oil, scraping down the sides if necessary, pulse until just combined -not too smooth or oily- this should feel like a dry coarse paste.
- Stuff: Spread 2/3 of the paste on the inside of the lamb, saving the rest for the outer crust.
- Roll up the lamb with the filling on the inside and tie at one-inch intervals. You can either do individual strings and knots or wrap up with one very long string. It really doesn’t need to be perfect, just do the best you can. Rub the remaining filling paste all over the outside of the lamb. (At this point you can refrigerate for 1-3 days if making ahead. Make sure to bring to room temp at least one hour before roasting.)
- ROAST: You have three roasting options. 1. Roast alone on a wire rack, over a pan (fastest) to catch the drippings giving you a crust on all sides. 2. Roast directly on your oven rack (messiest) with a sheet pan on the rack below to catch the drippings, or 3. Prepare a bed of roasting veggies for the leg of lamb to rest on and roast over, collecting the juices (longest, but my favorite and tasty).
- For the veggies, cut any combination of roasting vegetables into bite-size pieces. Toss a little olive oil to coat and sprinkle with salt and pepper, a few springs of herbs, stir and lay the lamb roast directly over top in a large roasting pan.
- Place lamb in a hot 425 F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325F. ( If roasting directly on the oven rack, lower temp to 300 F. ) Continue roasting for another 50 mins to 1.5 hours… or until lamb registers at least 125 F (rare) to 135F, remembering that the size of the lamb will determine how long it takes to cook. Once cooked to desired doneness, remove the lamb from the baking dish, set aside on a cutting board, loosely covered with foil, and let the veggies continue to cook, if needed, while the lamb rests 15- 20 minutes. Resting is important here. 😉
- While the lamb is roasting make the optional Mint gremolata. Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.
- Slice the lamb and serve with roasted veggies & mint gremolata.
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