Lamb- The Other Red Meat

Last weekend I was hosting some good friends of my parents. I had been meaning to have them over for dinner for quite some time as they had been generous enough to give me tennis tickets. Needless to say, I had to come up with something good because you don’t say thank you with a sandwich and chips.

B and I were completely lacking inspiration. We were going to go with our old standard, Coq au Vin, but thankfully B had remembered that we served that the last time they were over. There’s nothing worse than appearing to be a one trick pony. So we went down to the grocery store and were determined to find some inspiration.

As it turns out, the cooking gods were on our side. (I don’t know who the cooking gods are, but its probably a panel of individuals including but not necessary limited to; Julie Childs, Fanny Farmer, Jehanne Benoit and John Candy.) While strolling through the butcher’s department we found inspiration in spades. Finally we decided on a leg of lamb. No, we had never done a leg of lamb before but my buddy Peter does it all the time so we weren’t deterred. The great thing about lamb at a dinner party which included my parents is 1) roasts are a traditional North American meal and 2) for some reason they impress people because they seem difficult, 3) lamb isn’t your everyday roast, its pretty special. In addition, this wasn’t just any lamb, but Australian lamb. This worked out well because I have family roots in Aus, the friends that were coming over had been to Aus and B and I are going there for our honeymoon next year.

We found a 2.5kg leg of lamb (about 5 pounds) that was luckily butterflied (de-boned)- once again proving that the cooking gods are on our side. However, I realized that we didn’t have any kitchen twine at home (must remember to add that to the grocery list). In another tour de force for the cooking gods, the lamb came in some sort of stretchy woven stocking that you could take off and put back on! Wonderful!

So here’s what you need;

- 2 tablespoons of Dijon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1 healthy teaspoon of rosemary
- 1 teaspoon of Herbes de province
- Salt and pepper
- 1 leg of lamb, boneless. (its much better if you can get the butcher to do this for you)


How to:
- First off you mix the Dijon with the rosemary and the Herbes de Provence and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
- Remove the leg of lamb from the stocking so that you can get access to the middle of the roast.
- Salt and pepper liberally the inside of the roast. Smash a few cloves of garlic and toss them in the middle of the roast. If you have some rosemary left over feel free to toss some in there as well.
- Roll up the leg of lamb and put it back inside the stocking.
- Slice sum garlic and then puncture a few holes spread throughout the outside of the roast and put a slice of garlic in each hole. Rub the other tablespoon of oil over the outside of the roast then salt and pepper the roast.
- Coat the outside of the roast with the Dijon mixture.
- Place the roast in a roasting pan and put in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes every 0.5kg (about 15 minutes a pound). This should give you approximately medium rare.

As you can see from above, my presentation won’t win me any gold ribbons because I seem to have left a big hole in the middle of the plate. Almost like I had made the plate for a kid that doesn’t like to have any food touching other food items, but I’m sure you can do a better job.

Serving suggestions
I like lamb with some nice roasted rosemary potatoes and always some green vegetables and/or a salad. I also think red wine is a must, ask a sommelier or someone at your local liquor store for a suggestion. My mother insists on mint jelly with lamb, but this certainly didn’t need it. Some times I think my Mom likes to eat lamb just so that she has an excuse to eat mint jelly so I won’t judge her.