Greek-style Roast Leg of Lamb

[Pecker]

This recipe is pretty much identical to the souvlaki recipe I just posted. The difference here is that you're roasting a whole leg, rather than small cubes on a skewer.

Ingredients

• 1 leg of lamb, butterflied. Get your butcher to butterfly this for you. If s/he won't, change your butcher.
• 1tbsp Dried Mint
• 1tbsp Dried Oregano
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 100ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves Grated Garlic
• 1tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
• Salt & Pepper

Method

• Marinade the butterflied leg of lamb in the mixture for at least 30 minutes, but preferably longer (overnight or marinade in the morning for evening tea)
• Heat your barbecue to maximum
• Cook for 2 or 3 minutes a side over high direct heat (you want it crispy but not burnt) then place over indirect heat (maybe with the vents closed to lower it to a medium temperature) for a further 10-20 minutes, depending on how rare you like your lamb.

Be warned, whilst 10-20 minutes may not sound a lot for a whole leg of lamb, once butterflied it can cook very quickly.

I actually like lamb roasted slowly, falling off the bone, but this Greek-style marinade works best if you cook it quickly.

Serve it as you would roast lamb, or alternately slice it up and serve it in pitta sandwiches with tzatziki, cucumber, red onion and hot, smoked paprika.

Steve W

[keith157]

I'll certainly give that a go, usually marinadee my lamb with yoghurt, but red wine sounds (and tastes) good

[Pecker]

You're right - yoghurt is great for a marinade.

Did you see the Heston Blumenthal In Search of Perfection episode on Chikken Tikka? He marinated some chicken in an oil-based marinade and another in yoghurt, then took it to someone at a university to view under something like a mini-MRI scanner. The yoghurt had taken the flavour far further into the meat than the oil.

Not sure if it'd work with this, but I might give it a go at some point - maybe with the souvlaki.

Steve W

[keith157]

I did, I also didn't understand the techy explanaition, I relied on a medieval approach Yoghurt is a live culture therefore it WANTS TO EXPAND AND GROW AND THEN TAKE OVER THE WORLD................... SORRY TOO MANY MEDS THIS MORNING

I'd love to see a proper Heston program about BBQ, both low and slow and grilling. I tried his burgers straight from a miner and they are as advertised, although I only have a small machine so they didn't look quite as good as his