I love lamb winter or summer but particularly in the summer when I use a charcoal grill to roast a whole leg on the bone or butterflied. I stud the charcoal base with smoking woods. And I generally make a seasoning paste of parsley, garlic, thyme or rosemary, mustard and olive oil whizzed in the food processor until it’s the texture of a well made pesto. I rub this over the lamb.
Leg of lamb prepared for roasting on a bed of potatoes and a few local carrots
In the winter I make the same paste but roast the lamb in the oven, starting in a hot oven (400 degrees) for about 30 minutes then turn down to 375 degrees until the meat registers 135 to 140 degrees on an instant read thermometer for medium rare–or pink, which is just a shade over blood rare. When I order lamb in a restaurant, I’m asked how I want it cooked. My answer is “pink.” There’s always a raised eyebrow arched in confusion. I don’t know why it’s not immediately understood what pink means. In an old-style French restaurant ( I think of New York’s La Grenouille or the old La Caravelle), a rack of lamb ordered pink is immediately understood by the waiter or captain.
The dining room at La Caravelle, which closed in 2004; Circa 1980s known as the power table banquettes in the front of the restaurant
The front banquettes at La Grenouille
This recipe for lamb is very distinctive in that it’s placed on a bed of sliced potatoes moistened with butter and some chicken stock (if you have veal or lamb stock, use that). On the day that I made this lamb for Sunday dinner, I used up some chicken parts (mostly backs and wing tips) that I had in the freezer to make a rich chicken stock. Put them in a pot, bring to a lively simmer and simmer until the scum that rises to the top, which takes about 30 minutes for the skimming process. The parts that I had were from farm birds and they produced a lot of this scum. Then put in aromatics: unpeeled union, carrot, celery, fresh herbs like thyme and parsley, a clove of garlic, bay leaf and a few black peppercorns. Salt the stock after it’s done You can let it simmer for a little as 1 hour or all day, if you like until it’s dark, rich and glistening.
Getting farm lamb is easy enough to find this time of year (it will generally be frozen) at farmer’s markets. But since the weather was not great for traveling to other markets this past weekend I shopped locally. The only meat purveyors at the Portland farmer’s market had some lamb sausages and no other cuts. I figured that Whole Foods would have some good lamb from local sources. Pickings were slim. There was a whole leg (not local but grass fed, pastured) at $11.99 per pound and for a 7 pound roast it would be a whopping $80. I asked for half of a leg which brought the cost down considerably. Since it was just the two of us, that was plenty of meat. However, the express checkout line stretched all the way to the dairy case in back. With just 3 checkers at the cash register, this could have taken an hour. I returned the lamb to the butcher, who understood completely the reason why.
I remembered that Australian lamb was on sale at the Market Basket for $3.99 per pound. As I drove there I couldn’t help thinking how long it took for those lambs to reach our shores. A day in the air, a day or longer in a warehouse, it would practically be mutton before arriving Australian lamb is very gamey, which I like. The result was fine but I prefer eating local to experience the flavor of freshly raised local meat.
I cut up some large yellow potatoes and a few russets that I had in my stash of local potatoes. Goranson Farm has a good selection of potatoes: pintos and keuka gold, which I buy at the farmers market.
The potatoes, cut about half-inch thick, as the basis for this dish of roast lamb emerge perfectly cooked in about 75-90 minutes when the lamb is done. I then dust them with grated Parmesan and put back in the oven until the melted cheese coats the potatoes in a nice golden crust. I also added some baby carrots, which I got from Balfour Farm, little beauties that were fresh dug looking like summer carrots.
Ingredients
- About 5 pounds leg of lamb
- Salt and pepper
- Several cloves garlic, cut into slivers
- Dried or fresh thyme or rosemary
- Olive oil
- 4 to 5 medium large potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
- Some small whole carrots (optional)
- Butter
- Chicken stock
- Grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Prepare the lamb by studding it all over with firm cuts of garlic. Make small cuts with a sharp knife all over the lamb and fill with these cut cloves of garlic.
- Rub the roast generously with salt and pepper, thyme or rosemary. You can use dried herbs if fresh are not on hand.
- Coast the roast lightly with olive.
- Prepare the potatoes in a well-buttered roasting pan, making a double layer of potatoes to fill the pan. Dot the potatoes with more butter, and season with salt and pepper. Add enough chicken stock to barely cover the potatoes.
- Lay the roast on top of the potatoes and put in the oven to roast for about 30 minutes. Lower the heat to 375 degrees and continue roasting until an instant -read thermomter reaches 130 to 140 degrees for medium rare or "pink". Remove the roast to a cutting board.
- Sprinkle on the Parmesan over all the potatoes. Return to the oven until the potatoes are slightly crusty.
- Carve the meat and serve with it layered over the potatoes on serving plates.
- Additionally you can put in a few carrots to roast along with the potatoes and meat.
