Luscious Leg of Lamb

What’s not to love about an indulgent leg of lamb?

Prep time: 10 minutes or overnight for best flavours | Cook time: Check your leg of lamb for cook times
Ingredients
  • Leg of lamb
  • 4 cloves of garlic, thinly chopped
  • Handful of rosemary sprigs
  • 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Vegetables for trivet (we recommend potatoes, carrots, onions and parsnips)
Method
  1. Using a sharp knife or skewer, make small holes across the top of your lamb being careful to not cut too deeply
  2. Push slivers of garlic and sprigs of rosemary inside the holes. Add as many as you like for added flavour
  3. TOBY TIP: If you have time, stud the lamb a day in advance to allow the flavours to get into the meat
  4. If you like your lamb plain and simple, just sprinkle it with salt before you cook it. Don’t salt it too far in advance as the salt will draw the moisture out of the meat and could make it dry
  5. Cover the lamb well and leave overnight in the refrigerator. If you’re stuck for time, allow the meat to warm to room temperature and marinate for around 1 hr before cooking
  6. Lightly coat the bottom of a roasting pan with a tbsp of rapeseed oil
  7. Arrange the veg trivet in the centre of the pan, adding the lamb on top
  8. Add to the centre of a pre-heated oven
  9. Cook according to the packaging instructions and ensure the thickest part of the lamb gets to 60-70C. Invest in a food probe if you want to be sure – they’re readily available online
  10. Be sure to toss the vegetables in the pan juices during cooking to keep them moist
  11. After cooking, make sure you let your lamb stand for at least 15 minutes underneath some foil and tea towels, so the meat 'relaxes' and the juices flow through the joint

A few words on carving

If you're thinking of using an electric knife, here's my advice: please don't.

Ideally, you need a long, sharp knife. A serrated blade works quite well if you'd rather not be sharpening all the time.

Here's the proper way to sharpen a carving knife. First, don't sharpen both sides or you'll probably blunt it. The trick is, if you're right-handed, sharpen the right-hand side; and vice versa if you're left-handed.

Use the entire length of the knife to carve, cutting against the grain to slice up the meat fibres.

If you use a fork to hold the meat in place, press lightly. If you stick the fork hard into the joint, everything will collapse and you'll squeeze those sumptuous juices out. Ideally, you should only use a fork to move the sliced meat.

If you like this recipe, you’ll love these…

Cooking times will vary according to your equipment specification and timings are given for guidance. We use a fan assisted oven for our recipes. Please follow instructions given on product packaging for best cooking instructions as these recipes are for guidance only. (V) indicates vegetarian recipe, (Ve) indicates vegan recipe. Double check all of your ingredients if you’re cooking for people with allergies, intolerances or food preferences.