Roast leg of lamb - martha stewart living
16 Servings
Ingredients
| Quantity | Ingredient | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6-to-9-lb leg of lamb | |
| 3 | larges | Cloves garlic, peeled and slivered |
| ¼ | cup | Olive oil |
| ¼ | cup | Fresh lemon juice |
| ½ | tablespoon | Dried oregano leaves |
| 2 | tablespoons | Fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped, plus 2 small bunches rosemary sprigs |
| Salt & freshly ground pepper | ||
Directions
1. Remove papery skin, or fell, from lamb and trim fat on top side to ⅝ inch thick. (You can also have your butcher do this.) Remove all fat from bottom side of leg. With the tip of a sharp knife, cut a few slits in flesh on top and bottom of lamb and insert garlic slivers.
2. Combine oil, lemon juice, oregano, chopped rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste in a small mixing bowl. Rub lamb well with half the marinade, and refrigerate, covered, for several hours or overnight.
Set aside remaining marinade.
3. Remove lamb from refrigerator one hour before you are ready to cook it. Heat oven to 450'. Arrange rosemary sprigs along both sides of leg and secure rosemary in 3 places with butcher's twine. Season well with salt and pepper and place in a roasting pan.
4. Place lamb in oven and turn down heat to 325'. Baste often with remaining marinade. Drain fat from pan periodically. Roast lamb until a meat thermometer reads 135' when inserted into thickest part for medium rare, about 1 hour an 20 minutes, or continue cooking to de- sired temperature. Untie lamb and let rest for 15 minutes before slicing. Carve and serve with condiments and pita.
Martha Stewart Living/August/94 Scanned & fixed by Di Pahl