Irish Leg of Lamb

Today is Saint Patrick's Day and we are going to feast in his honor.  Be prepared people, this is the first in a series of posts about what we ate for dinner.  I went all out.  We did indeed feast like a respectable Irish family would.  Why did I choose leg of lamb instead of Corned Beef you ask?  Well after trying to plan a traditional Irish feast, I learned that Corned Beef is an Irish American tradition.  When the Irish immigrated to America they found that the closest meat they could find to their favorite Bacon Joint was the Jewish Corned Beef and so they adopted it wholeheartedly.  As for the cabbage, we can thank the turn of the century restaurants that these Irish immigrant workers frequented.  In Ireland we would more likely find lamb and bacon joint being eaten by the Irish people themselves.  When I went to an Irish butcher shop here in town, it was shut down, so I am still on the hunt for Bacon Joint so we can try that as well.  I wanted to make an authentic Saint Patrick's day feast.  Well on with the recipe, that is what you want to see?

 Look at the beautiful crust, the interior had some pink, and it wasn't dry.

Ingredients for this Recipe are:

3 1/2 lbs. Boneless Leg of Lamb
6 cloves of Garlic
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Cut garlic in half or thirds lengthwise.  The pieces should not be bigger than 1/4 inch thick.

Cut slits into the lamb and push garlic into the slits.

Sprinkle salt and pepper all over lamb and rub it in.

 Put the lamb on the spit of a rotisserie.  Roast for 1 hour 30 minutes.

 Let lamb continue to rotate without heat for 20 minutes.

Remove lamb from rotisserie, place in oven safe dish, and cover with aluminum foil for 5 minutes 
before cutting.  

Enjoy!

Irish Leg of Lamb

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

3 1/2 lbs. Boneless Leg of Lamb

6 cloves of Garlic

Sea Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Process:

Cut garlic in half or thirds lengthwise.  The pieces should not be bigger than 1/4 inch thick.

Cut slits into lamb and push garlic into the slits.

Sprinkle salt and pepper all over lamb and rub it in.

Put the lamb on the spit of a rotisserie.  Roast for 1 hour 30 minutes.

Let lamb continue to rotate without heat for 20 minutes.

Remove lamb from rotisserie, place in oven safe dish, and cover with aluminum foil for 5 minutes before cutting.  

Enjoy!

Roasted Boneless Leg of Lamb

I am a complete novice about cooking lamb.  I did some searching trying to understand how to cook it.  I am still learning.  When I went to the butcher, and picked up the leg of lamb, he suggested a boneless lamb.  He kindly removed the bones in a leg of lamb and tied up the meat into a nice roast.  My inspiration for the flavors was from Serious Eats.  The guy on the website is amazing about describing how to cook food and gives reasons why he chose what he chose, and how he does what he does to food.  My other inspiration for dinner comes from the butcher who sold me the lamb and the local Greek population.  The butcher told me make sure I had potatoes with my lamb.  The Greek flavor is garlic, and herbs. 

 The coloring is a work of art I think.

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 4 lbs. boneless leg of lamb tied up in a bundle, 2 teaspoons dried
thyme, 2 teaspoons dried rosemary, 8 cloves of peeled garlic, and 3 tablespoons olive oil.

 Press garlic into a small bowl with herbs and olive oil.

 Mix marinade, this will be our marinade for the lamb for the next 24 hours.

 Push and rub marinade into all crevices and all over the lamb.

 Place lamb in large gallon size Ziploc bag and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Next day - are you ready to roast this beautiful meat?

Preheat oven to 275 Fahrenheit

 Place lamb in a roasting pan with rack.   My roasting pan is huge.  The lamb looks small. 

Roast lamb for 3 hours or until internal temperature reaches 130-135 for medium/rare.

The smell of this lamb is so lovely.  Halfway into cooking time, as in 1 1/2 hours into roasting,
I flipped the lamb over.

 Remove lamb from oven and check temperature with instant read thermometer.

Allow lamb to rest for 10-15 minutes to redistribute juices.

 Slice lamb.

Enjoy!