Caporegime
- Joined
- 13 May 2003
- Posts
- 34,515
- Location
- Warwickshire
Couldn't see another thread on leg of lamb on the forum, so here goes.
We had this for dinner tonight, it was melt-in-the-mouth fall-off-the-bone-tasty! Maybe this will inspire someone for tomorrow, Saturday being the incorrect day for a roast dinner
.
The meat:
For the trivet / lamb seasoning - rosemary, garlic (crushed for trivet, sliced for lamb), lightly ground sea salt flakes, two banana shallots (whole), one large onion (roughly chopped), four carrots, peeled and halved:
Oven to 100 deg C, check with (filthy) oven thermometer:
Season lamb with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. I personally brown the outside of most joints in a hot pan using clarified butter before roasting, just to get a bit more flavour on the outside:
Place lamb on vegetable trivet, drizzle with olive oil, then roast for 8 hrs:
Don't expect pink meat using this method, but it's worth it.
When the lamb has ~1hr remaining until resting time, start making the gratin. Basically...peel and slice lots of potatoes (desiree is ideal, or other waxy) and layer them (slightly overlapping). Season each layer and add gruyere cheese to each layer to taste, with a generous layer of cheese on top to get that crusty layer.
Don't slice the potatoes too far in advance or the potatoes will go brown. You can however make and cook the gratin the day before then reheat it. Twice cooked gratin tastes amazing, it seems to intensify the flavours.
To make gratin: 500ml whole milk, 200ml double cream...heat gently for 5-10 minutes in a pan with a clove of crushed garlic. Pour on top and get in the oven at 100 until the lamb is ready to rest, then increase to 150-180, depending on how long you want to rest the lamb for.
I cooked the gratin with the lamb at 100 for 15 minutes, then 45 minutes at 160 while the lamb was resting. Rest lamb on a warm plate and cover with foil and a tea towel.
Now the lamb is resting, it's time to make the gravy. Add 2 tablespoons of plain flour to the tray. Cook off for a few minutes and stir it around to absorb all the goodness stuck to the bottom of the tray.
Add 1/2 bottle of wine (I used white, many prefer red) and reduce for ten minutes. Then add chicken stock and reduce further until desired consistency is achieved.
Melt a knob of butter in the tray (having transferred the gravy to another pan) just to pick up any remaining juices and add a bit more flavour / sheen to the gravy.
Take the gravy off the heat so the butter is incorporated properly. Stir, then set aside if it's reduced enough.
Lamb done, ready for carving:
Gratin done:
It falls off the bone:
Served with the reheated gravy and some assorted frozen veg:
It was really good, tender tasty meat. What would I change? I'd add 1/2 bottle of wine in at the start and cover with foil for duration, to keep all the moisture in. I'm also going to try lamb shoulder with the same method next weekend to see how that part of the animal likes this cooking method.
We had this for dinner tonight, it was melt-in-the-mouth fall-off-the-bone-tasty! Maybe this will inspire someone for tomorrow, Saturday being the incorrect day for a roast dinner
.The meat:
For the trivet / lamb seasoning - rosemary, garlic (crushed for trivet, sliced for lamb), lightly ground sea salt flakes, two banana shallots (whole), one large onion (roughly chopped), four carrots, peeled and halved:
Oven to 100 deg C, check with (filthy) oven thermometer:
Season lamb with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. I personally brown the outside of most joints in a hot pan using clarified butter before roasting, just to get a bit more flavour on the outside:
Place lamb on vegetable trivet, drizzle with olive oil, then roast for 8 hrs:
Don't expect pink meat using this method, but it's worth it.
When the lamb has ~1hr remaining until resting time, start making the gratin. Basically...peel and slice lots of potatoes (desiree is ideal, or other waxy) and layer them (slightly overlapping). Season each layer and add gruyere cheese to each layer to taste, with a generous layer of cheese on top to get that crusty layer.
Don't slice the potatoes too far in advance or the potatoes will go brown. You can however make and cook the gratin the day before then reheat it. Twice cooked gratin tastes amazing, it seems to intensify the flavours.
To make gratin: 500ml whole milk, 200ml double cream...heat gently for 5-10 minutes in a pan with a clove of crushed garlic. Pour on top and get in the oven at 100 until the lamb is ready to rest, then increase to 150-180, depending on how long you want to rest the lamb for.
I cooked the gratin with the lamb at 100 for 15 minutes, then 45 minutes at 160 while the lamb was resting. Rest lamb on a warm plate and cover with foil and a tea towel.
Now the lamb is resting, it's time to make the gravy. Add 2 tablespoons of plain flour to the tray. Cook off for a few minutes and stir it around to absorb all the goodness stuck to the bottom of the tray.
Add 1/2 bottle of wine (I used white, many prefer red) and reduce for ten minutes. Then add chicken stock and reduce further until desired consistency is achieved.
Melt a knob of butter in the tray (having transferred the gravy to another pan) just to pick up any remaining juices and add a bit more flavour / sheen to the gravy.
Take the gravy off the heat so the butter is incorporated properly. Stir, then set aside if it's reduced enough.
Lamb done, ready for carving:
Gratin done:
It falls off the bone:
Served with the reheated gravy and some assorted frozen veg:
It was really good, tender tasty meat. What would I change? I'd add 1/2 bottle of wine in at the start and cover with foil for duration, to keep all the moisture in. I'm also going to try lamb shoulder with the same method next weekend to see how that part of the animal likes this cooking method.
Last edited:
I've tried, hence the scouring marks. Won't budge though 
.
