So, today I stumbled across The Shopping Coup of the Year. A $47.00 half leg of lamb for $13.00. I saved $35 on one item! And it’s big enough for 3 or four meals for my whole family, so it truly was a bargain! Yipee, I love lamb! It’s not, however, one of my specialties. I hardly ever even make chops because of the cost, and I’ve never made a leg. Of course, I do have cookbooks and there’s thousands of recipes on the net, but I’ve found some Dopers are fabulous cooks, so any ideas? I’m making it tomorrow (Sunday) and I have to cook it inside (so no grilling).
Are you dead-set on the idea of serving it whole, or are you willing to consider recipes that involve cutting it up? And do you have a broiler? If both of these are true, then the following Azerbaijani marinade is totally kickass for chops or kebabs, but I’ve never tried it for a roast.
From Please to the Table: 400 Glorious Recipes from the Baltics to Uzbekistan, Anya von Bremzen and John Welchman
Pomegranate-Grilled Lamb Chops (Narli Kebab)
1 3/4 cups fresh or bottled pomegranate juice
4 cloves garlic, crushed in a garlic press
6 black peppercorns, crushed
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint
Salt, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
Garnish: pomegranate seeds, mint leaves
Paraphrase of directions: combine all ingredients, marinade lamb (the recipe says 4 - 12 hours, but I did it for 24 once, and it was amazing), grill lamb (or I’m sure broiling it would be fine); reduce marinade and baste lamb with it while it cooks
Other than the above, I’m fond of all kinds of lamb stews as well, particularly the Middle Eastern kinds…so have fun!
Roald Dahl had a pretty good recipe for leg of lamb, though I can’t remember it. I know my wife has one in the freezer now and I’ll ask her what it might be.
I don’t know if I’m too late for you, but cooking the leg of lamb is fairly simple. If you have a bulb of garlic, break it up into cloves, then cut slits in the leg of lamb and slip the garlic cloves into the slits. Salt and pepper the leg and you might try using rosemary as well; it’s a good spice for lamb. Then just roast it accordingly…I’m not sure of the oven temp, but it’s probably 325 or 350, for however long it says on the package per pound.
Wish I was there, lamb is my favorite!!! Enjoy!
If you feel confident with a butchers knife, butterflying it leads to a whole lot more possibilities. Alton Brown has a good demo of it in his Leg of Lamb Good Eats show. Apart from that, I still think simplicity is best. Get some garlic and rosemary, cut thin holes in the leg with a paring knife and stuff them in. Salt, pepper and oil it, roast it in a medium oven until the inside reads 60C/130something F and then take it out and rest while you make a pan sauce.
Thanks to all who replied. I’ve decided to go with the garlic and rosemary suggestions. It’s in the oven right now, and smelling wonderful. Both sides were covered with a fat layer. I cut the one on the top of, and left the bottom one on. I hope that was the right thing to do, I couldn’t see leaving all that fat on but I hope it doesn’t compromise the taste.
Thanks!
You can make gravy from the drippings!
But will it go with the Queen’s of the Stoneage song?
What’s better on lamb – gravy, mint sauce, or mint jelly?
Gravy for the spuds (or rice), mint or chutney for the lamb.
Gravy, with a thick mint sauce on the side, is my option.
Re. the fat - it wasn’t necessary to cut any of it off (you can always just not eat it!), but losing it from only one side will not have much effect on the taste.
Dinner’s over. It was very good. Parts of it were more tender than the most tender filet mignon. I cooked it to 120, so it was nice and rare in the middle. I still have a lot left over, of course, so I might cut it up and make that first dish or something similiar tomorrow.
And I made gravy. With mushroom rice, pickled beets, and salad.
You could turn that into a terrific curry.
No roast potatoes?!?!
You owe it to yourself to try gigot à la moutarde, as made famous by Julia Child and enjoyed in the Doug household since the early 1960s. It’s succulent, coated in a yummy crust of mustard and fines herbes, and absolutely crawling in garlic. Pick a hearty, ballsy red wine and don’t count on there being leftovers.
For next time, that is… 
I use something very similar on chicken, although with honey in place of the soy sauce.
Betcha that’s some gooood chicken…but there’s no substitute for that melding of lamb drippings and baked-on mustard goo. Oh man. I have to find out when my dad is making it next so I can be sure to be there.
Is there such thing as a thick mint sauce (that isn’t a jelly)?