4/4/10 - Easter Dinner....Boneless Leg of Lamb

We were with family all weekend but left early on Sunday to beat traffic, which means I made my first ever Easter dinner. With lamb on sale this week at the store I couldn't resist picking up a small boneless leg to attempt a roast. I left it to defrost in my refrigerator on Friday afternoon and came home Sunday morning hoping that everything would be ready to go (it was!). We had a friend joining us so I tried to have dinner ready by 5 pm but as always I was a off by an hour. I assumed that the stores were closed because of the holiday, so I had to throw a nice dinner together with the left overs from the week.

I was a bit perplexed when I saw that my roast was wearing this elastic girdle but quickly figured out that it was a clever way to "tie" the roast. I studded the roast with garlic and lemon before coating it in salt & rosemary which infused a lot of flavor throughout the meat. I was happy that I got the roast on the right side of med- rare/ med line and everyone was happy. I added a side of raspberry chipotle maple glazed carrots, asparagus wrapped in bacon and finally a baked potato (simple but delicious!). I also served a small salad to start - mixed greens salad topped with pear and cheese (pictured above).

Roasted Lamb Leg
4-5 lb boneless leg of lamb - tied
lemon peel of 1/2 lemon - cut into 1" square chunks
10 cloves of garlic- smashed
1/2 c dried or fresh rosemary
1/4 c sea salt or kosher salt

1) remove elastic mesh from led of lamb
2) cut slits all over meat and stuff garlic and lemon peel evenly over meat
3) re-roll meat and coat exterior in rosemary and salt
4) secure lamb inside mesh (so it is rolled into a roast)
5) get aluminum pan hot and sear each side of roast for approx 2 min or until crusted
6) place pan in 350 F oven for 90 -100 min (until 145 F) and let sit for 10-15 min to rest before carving.
7) to make a pan gravy by add some Wondra flour and herbs to the juices left in the pan and reduce till thick.