Garlic Roasted Leg of Lamb

When Jessica decided that we should host an Easter dinner this year, I was predictably excited. Hosting a dinner means the meal budget is thrown out the window and I’m able to prepare whatever my little heart desires. My heart wanted to devour a cute little woolly lamb.

This was my first attempt at a leg of lamb so I went to my  old standby, Cooks Illustrated, for advice. It seems they have spent a lot of time and energy on lamb over the years. Evidently few things are as grandiose as presenting a leg of lamb for one’s guests. This grandiosity fades as soon as the lamb is carved, however. Fat, gristle, and silver skin impart a gamey taste and should be avoided if possible. My Father has  always preached the benefits of removing “tallow” and silver skin from venison when butchering deer in the fall, so I put those techniques to use on the lamb.

I started with a 13# whole leg from Van Meter’s Meats in Luck, WI. I had them remove the sirloin portion of the leg which I promptly put in the freezer. I’ll use this at a later date for my Lamb Karahi.

I needed to separate the 3 roasts in the leg, and remove all of the fat and silver skin to avoid the gaminess I mentioned earlier.

After the roasts were cleaned, I submerged them in a brine consisting of 2 quarts water, 1/4 cup Kosher salt, 1/4 cup sugar, and 12 minced garlic cloves. This was set in the refrigerator for 2 hours. While the roasts were brining, I prepared an Au Jus with the leftover lamb scraps, an onion, some white wine, chicken broth, and reserved roasted garlic paste.

After two hours, the roasts were removed, patted dry, and scored 1/4 inch deep in a diagonal pattern, about 1″ apart. A paste of roasted garlic and minced parsley was rubbed into the scored meat.

The roasts were then rolled tightly and tied with butcher’s twine…

..and seared in olive oil in a 12″ skillet.

After they lamb was browned on all sides I transferred the pan to the oven to roast at 400F for about 30 mins, until the temp reached 140F. I was pretty busy at this point with a whole chicken on the Weber for the kids, roasting beets and carrots, making garlic/olive oil mashed potatoes, as well as the lamb,  so I was unable to snap any photos of the remaining cooking process. Here is a snap of one of the roasts (we ate the other two during the course of the dinner):

As always, I’ll try to critique the dinner.

What went wrong: I over-roasted the carrots a bit. I’ll need to keep a closer eye on these smaller carrots when roasting. They tasted great, but a few of the smaller carrots scorched a bit. I think I added a little too much lemon juice to the mashed potatoes. They tasted a little different than normal.  I would like to add that lifting a 12″ skillet by the handle, bare-handed, within minutes of removal from a 400F oven is probably not the best idea.  Just saying.

What went right: The lamb was tender, juicy, and without a trace of “gaminess”. I was pleased and a bit suprised it turned out so well on my first attempt. I liked the garlic paste very much. The roasted beets and carrots were shriveled and had a lot more flavor than when steamed. My timing worked out great, everything was ready within 5 minutes time of another. The Au Jus turned out excellent.

A great easter dinner overall in my view. We drank a few bottles of wine, enjoyed great conversations with loved ones, and ate very well.

~ by jormundr on April 7, 2007.