Roast Lamb a la Mum
Submitted by oneeagle
Roast leg of lamb studded with garlic and rosemary, rubbed with lemon juice, roasted over sliced potatoes and onions. Finished with a fresh mint butter pan sauce.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
60 minREADY
80 minMum’s roast lamb is the kind of Sunday dinner that fills the whole house with the smell of garlic, rosemary, and roasting meat. A whole leg gets rubbed with lemon juice and flour, then studded with garlic slivers and rosemary sprigs pushed deep into small cuts across the surface.
The lamb roasts on a rack over sliced potatoes and onions that cook in butter and stock, soaking up all the drippings from above. By the time the meat is done, those vegetables are golden, tender, and saturated with lamb flavor.
The mint butter sauce pulls everything together. Fresh mint and lemon juice beaten into soft butter, then whisked piece by piece into the deglazed, reduced pan juices. It’s richer and more refined than traditional mint sauce.
Pro Tips
- Let the lamb rest for a full 10 minutes after roasting. The juices redistribute and the internal temperature evens out. Cutting too soon means dry edges and a raw center.
- Use a meat thermometer. For medium-rare lamb, pull it when the thickest part reads 75°C (167°F). It will rise a few more degrees while resting.
- Degrease the pan juices before reducing. Lamb fat is flavorful but heavy, and too much will make the sauce greasy.
- Whisk the mint butter in off the heat, a small piece at a time. Adding it to boiling liquid will break the emulsion.
Variations
- Add a splash of red wine to the pan juices before reducing for a deeper, more complex sauce.
- Swap the mint butter for a classic chimichurri if you prefer an Argentine approach.
- Toss parsnips or carrots in with the potatoes for a more varied vegetable bed.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to maximum temperature.
Trim lamb of all fat and sinew.
Rub with juice of 1½ lemons, then with flour.
Season and make 12 small cuts into the lamb, 1centimeter deep.
Peel garlic and cut into 12 long slivers.
Insert one of these slivers into each cut along with a sprig of rosemary.
Push in with top of knife.
Set aside.
Slice potatoes and onion into ¼ centimeter slices.
Melt half the butter in a roasting tray and toss vegetables in it.
Add 500 millilitres of the stock.
Put rack in roasting tray and put lamb on top.
Cook in preheated oven until it reaches 75C on the meat thermometer (for medium rare).
Chop mint finely amd mix with juice of half of one of the lemons and rest of the butter.
When lamb is redy let it rest, loosely covered, in a warm place for 10 minutes.
Strain pan juices carefully into pan and set vegetables aside in a warm place.
Add the remaining stock to the pan, degrease and boil over a high heat until thickened.
Whisk in mint butter bit by bit.
Season.
Slice lamb.
Put vegetables on plates, top with lamb and spoon sauce over.
Garnish with chopped parsley.
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