This takes a little work but it's well worth it for special occasions. What's more, there are ways to change it up and make it your own. Read on and I will show you....
- Olive oil
- 1 Boneless leg of lamb (mine was 5lbs), butterflied
- Kitchen twine
- Now, when they debone the leg, it becomes less of a roast and can sometimes even be rolled out flat. You could roll it out flat and cook it that way if you want. Or you can do what I did and roll it out, fill it with some kind of goodness and then tie it back up. This is what I did. I used: 1 small jar of Classico pesto. You could fill it with anything your heart desires (fresh herbs & garlic, stuffing, veggie puree, etc.)
- Kosher salt
- Ground black pepper
- 1/2 - 1 cup water
- 2 tbsp demi glace (we'll come back to that)
- 1 tbsp butter
Ready? Now some of this isn't as easy as it sounds so I'll tell you where I had trouble. The first thing you're going to do is preheat your oven to 350 (not too bad so far).
Next, prepare any filling you want to go inside the lamb (or in my case just open the jar of pesto and be done with it).
Grab your leg and unroll it. See all those creases? Fill the center and creases, spoonful by spoonful, with the pesto (or whatever you decide to use).
Fun part - I don't know how you would do this without help so if you have a friend or roommate around, recruit them. It will make things easier. Now that the lamb is ready for the oven, we have to put it back together. This may mean rolling it up or just closing it (depending on how it was butchered). Seriously, you'll figure it out. It has all these loose parts that we want to keep together so we're going to truss our lamb by tying it back together. Take the kitchen twine and wrap it around the far end of the lamb, and tie it tightly in place. Repeat this every 2 inches or so until the entire bad boy is done. Here is a lovely example of a trussed leg of lamb:
In a roasting pan over med-hi heat, warm enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan (well that part was easy).
Add the lamb and brown on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes per side. This is simple enough, I know. But we're talking about a pan that has hot oil popping in the bottom of it and you're trying to flip a 5lb roast. So be careful, stand back, and be sure to use oven mitts.
Transfer the pan to the oven and roast covered for 45 minutes, and then uncovered for 30. Basically you're done when your thermometer reads 130 from the very center of the lamb. These temps are for medium-rare. Add more if you like your meat a little more on the done side.
Once you've taken the pan out of the oven, you still need to let it rest. So transfer the lamb to a carving board or something, cover loosely with aluminum foil and let rest for 15 minutes.
Ok. Fancy gravy time. Before we get started, here's the deal. Demi Glace is awesome, but expensive. I use it for special occasions. It's just a super condensed rich sauce made from meat, wine, veggies, spices and good things like that. You could make your own demi glace. I'm going to try it soon. But in the meantime, you can pick it up at most gourmet stores. I use More Than Gourmet brand:
Demi Glace Gravy:
Skim the fat from the pan and set over medium heat. Add the demi-glace and water and cook, stirring to scrape up the brown bits from the pan bottom. (My mom's trick for getting the fat off the top: put a soda cracker gently on top of the gravy. It soaks up the fat but not the gravy itself.)
Strain the sauce into a saucepan, set over medium heat and let it cook for a minute or so. Whisk in butter and season with salt & pepper.
Snip the strings and thinly slice the lamb across the grain.
I served mine with mashed potatoes:
