Spicy roast leg of lamb

I like living in the countryside. Sometimes I complaint about cinema or shopping centre being so far away, but I rather go shopping few times a year (it is whole day challenge) or travel to nearest fitness centre twice a week but come back from work to quiet and peaceful environment. Here a walk to the river or Pennines hills is a matter of minutes. Also I have an opportunity to buy some products from local producers such as free range eggs or meat. I pay a good price and I know exactly where the meat comes from and this is extremely important for me.

Few weeks ago my partner ordered a half lamb from a local farmer I mentioned some time ago. Surprisingly the meat was ready to collect few days earlier than we have expected so my partner went to get it and I was trying to empty our small freezer. I have managed to place everything in there and now we are stocked for good few moths.

Today I am going to show a recipe from “Indian food made easy” by Anjum Anand that I love and it would be perfect for those who do not love the smell of lamb. It is marinated for long time and spices make this meat very aromatic without a typical lamb smell. Although the smell is not totally gone. I have changed the quantities and method slightly.


approx. 2 kg leg of lamb


For the marinade

2 tbsp vegetable oil
5 tbsp lemon juice
approx. 5cm fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
6 large cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
¼ tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp garam masala
salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp water


For the honey rub

100g almonds, blanched
150ml Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp honey

Blend together all the ingredients for the marinade in a blender or food processor.

Trim the excess fat and membranes from the leg of lamb. Make deep regular cuts all over the flesh with a short, sharp knife. Rub in the marinade, making sure you get it into the deep cuts. Place the lamb in a plastic food bag with the marinade and leave in the fridge, ideally for 24 hours.

Next day for the honey rub place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend. Take the lamb out of the fridge and remove the plastic bag. Rub the honey blend into the lamb and ideally leave the lamb for another two hours, covered, in the fridge.

Remove the lamb from the fridge and bring to room temperature before cooking and preheat the oven to 225C. Place the lamb in a ovenproof dish with cover and roast for 15 minutes then lower the temperature to 180C, add half glass of water and cover. Roast for another 1 hour 40 minutes. Uncover for last 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven, cover with kitchen foil and leave to rest for about 10 minutes.

Carve and serve with potatoes and vegetables.

First day we had it with roast potatoes and Vichy carrots. Next I have carved all the meat off the bone, placed the bone in a pan added some water and boiled for about 1 hour over a low heat. I used the stock to cover meat leftovers and made sure all the almonds from roasting are added to the gravy as well. Next day I served lamb with this gravy and creamed potatoes and green beans. Any meat leftovers I freeze and going to use it when making pate or for Polish dumplings (pierogi) filling.