Leg Of Lamb Or Mutton Recipes

ROAST LEG OF LAMB

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cut slits in the top of the leg of lamb every 3 to 4 inches, deep enough to push slices of garlic down into the meat. Salt and pepper generously all over the top of lamb, place several sprigs of fresh rosemary under and on top of the lamb. Place lamb on roasting pan.
• Roast in preheated oven until the lamb is cooked to your desired doneness, about 1 3/4 to 2 hours. Do not overcook the lamb, the flavor is best if meat is still slightly pink. Let rest at least 10 minutes before carving.

LEG OF LAMB OR MUTTON

Steps:

• Put lamb or mutton leg in a large bowl or roasting pan. Mix together port, Madeira, rosemary, garlic and star anise and pour over lamb. Marinate 12 hours or overnight in refrigerator.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove leg from marinade, reserving marinade, and put on a rack in a roasting pan. Put in the hot oven for 15 minutes; then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue cooking. Lamb should reach an internal temperature of 135 degrees; mutton, 140 degrees (lamb should take 1 1/2 hours; mutton will take longer). When meat is done, remove from oven and set aside to rest for 15 to 30 minutes before carving.
• Strain marinade through a fine sieve. Remove star anise and garlic and return to marinade, discarding rosemary bits, as they will turn bitter during reduction. Bring marinade to a simmer, add glace de veau and cook slowly until liquid is reduced by half. Add salt and pepper if desired.
• Carve the meat and serve with the port-Madeira sauce.

SLOW COOKED LEG OF LAMB

Steps:

• Heat oven to 120C/fan 100C/gas ½. Put your largest lidded casserole on the hob and brown the seasoned leg of lamb on all sides - do this very thoroughly until it is a good dark brown as it will not brown during the cooking. (If you don't do it now, it will end up beige.) If the lamb sticks, add a drizzle of oil - legs of lamb differ. Allow 10 mins on a high heat and put on the cooker fan to remove the smoke. Pour away any fat that has collected in the bottom of the pan.
• Throw in the vegetables, followed by the wine and stock. Season and bring to the boil, then clap on the lid and put in the oven. Bake for 7 hrs, turning twice. After 5 hrs the meat will be cooked and offer no resistance to the knife.
• There is no need to rest the meat when cooked in this way, but to finish the sauce, transfer the meat and vegetables to a serving dish. Strain the sauce into a jug and pour or blot away the fat with kitchen paper. Pour the sauce into a pan then boil the liquid hard to reduce by a quarter, by which time it will be rich and flavoursome. Adjust seasoning, add the Armagnac if you wish, and serve alongside the lamb, which should be served with a spoon, a la cuillère as the French call it.

EASY ROAST LEG OF LAMB

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Rub the leg of lamb all over with salt and pepper. Use a small knife to make punctures in the lamb about 1 inch apart. Press slivers of garlic into each hole so that they are about 1/2 inch below the surface. Place the meat in a roasting pan. You can either remove the rosemary from the stalk and sprinkle and rub into the meat on all sides, or you can simply use the string from the lamb to secure against it. Pour the can of tomato sauce over the whole thing.
• Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven, then lower the temperature to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C), and continue roasting until the internal temperature of the meat is at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C), about 15 minutes. If you want the meat well done, wait until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees F (75 degrees C).