Saturday, March 29, 2014

Weekend Cooking: Slow Roast Leg of Lamb with Chardonnay, Rosemary, Sage and Bay

A few weeks ago the little chef and I were watching something on the Food Channel. I can't remember exactly what it was and, to be honest, it doesn't really matter. The program finished and I wasn't really paying attention and the next program came on. It was Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy and the boy and I became instant fans as a result of watching that episode.

Whenever I watch a cooking show, it is usual to like one recipe an episode or several recipes over the series but what was different about this particular episode was that we thought that every single recipe shown was one that we would like to try and make!

I have since borrowed the book for this series from the library, and having had a brief look through it, I am pretty sure that when I have some spare cash I will be wanting to buy it because there were a lot of recipes in it that I want to try. 

I am not planning to review the book or the series this week, but rather today I wanted to share the first recipe that we have tried, and I have to say it was delicious! I will be mentioning this book again in the next few weeks I am sure!

I made the recipe as directed and it was perfect fare for a coolish autumn afternoon! Actually I shouldn't say I made it because the little chef did all of the cooking. I will confess that I am a bit gutted that his roast potatoes turned out much better than mine normally do!  The only thing I we he did differently was that we cooked a whole leg (we won't talk about the fact that we had to hack a little bit off the end to make it fit in the casserole dish) because I wanted to end up with lots of leftovers. That has kind of happened but it is very tempting to just walk past and grab a little bit of meat every time I go into the kitchen!

I am not sure if you will be able to see it or not but there is a video on the BBC page for this recipe. I can't get it to play but maybe it will work for others.


Slow Roast Leg of Lamb with Chardonnay, Rosemary, Sage and Bay


½ leg of lamb (the thick fillet end) with bone in (about 1Kg/2lb 4oz)
salt and pepper
2 red onions
8 garlic cloves
4 rosemary sprigs
4 sage leaves
2 bay leaves
400ml/14fl oz white wine
couple squidges of honey
1kg/2lb 4oz potatoes, peeled and cut for roasties
olive oil, for drizzling
300g/11oz frozen peas

Remove the lamb from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking (to bring it to room temperature). Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2 and make sure the shelves are set to fit a casserole pot and roasting tray in.

Place the lamb in a big casserole pot and season it really well with salt and pepper. Cut the onions into quarters, keeping the root intact, peel off the skin and throw them in with the (unpeeled) garlic cloves, rosemary sprigs, sage and bay leaves. Pour in the white wine and drizzle the honey over.

Put the lid on and place the whole thing in the oven, leaving it for about four hours. Set a timer for 2 hours 30 minutes as that’s when you need to add the potatoes.

When the timer goes, toss the potatoes in a roasting tin with a good drizzle of oil and leave them to sit. (They won’t go brown with the oil on.)

Season the potatoes with salt and pepper, drizzle a bit more oil on them if they have sucked it all up and place them in the oven for the remaining hour and a half. Give them a toss about every so often.

Finally, 10 minutes before the meat is ready, throw the peas into the lamb cooking juices.

Once everything is cooked remove them from the oven. The meat should be falling off the bone and the potatoes crisp and golden brown. There is no need to rest the meat after this long cooking time, so simply dish up and serve.



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14 comments:

  1. Ok. I'm making this tonight. Coincidentally, I took a leg of lamb out of the freezer last night, but I hadn't really thought about how I wanted to roast it. This is it. Thanks! Can I borrow the boy a couple times a week around dinnertime?

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  2. I am sure he would be happy to come to your place! He has been requested to go to his friends house and cook dinner at some point! Her kids can barely cook themselves a frozen pizza.

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  3. Yummy! I love leg of lamb and feel like it's only brought out around Easter…so underused!

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    1. I never actually have lamb at Easter. Might make it again for Easter Sunday lunch.

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  4. This is the perfect recipe for a spring Sunday dinner; thanks for sharing.

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    1. Autumn, winter, spring - maybe not summer - but perfect for all those time.

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  5. This is going right on my library list! Fabulous cover too! Cheers

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  6. My mother could make the best leg of lamb. I only can fry a lamb chop. The book's cover is lovely. I would love to have this one. Will look for it at the library or....

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  7. I'm not a big fan of leg of lamb but I do love chardonnay, rosemary, sage, and bay. My mother would love this recipe though especially with Easter right around the corner. I love that your son cooks with you!

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  8. You have taught your son well lol, how awesome! My mouth is watering, I do love roast lamb. I've got this one on order at the library, along with a pile of Rachael Khoo cookbooks because I've been watching Little Paris Kitchen. Must try and record Lorraine Pascale's as well.

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  9. I love a good slow roasted leg of lamb, and this sounds absolutely amazing - I never would have thought of adding the white wine and honey.

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  10. I would love to try this, the flavour must be amazing! I've seen this book in pride of place on the shelves so I might have to get a copy myself.

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  11. Hello! Wanting to do this recipe for Easter but, like you, I have a whole leg of lamb. Did you just double all ingredients and cooking time? Thanks!

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