Slow roast leg of lamb
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:
- Cook:
- More effort
- Serves 6
- 1 large leg of lambabout 3kg/6lb 8oz
- 4 onionssliced
- 8 garlic clovespeeled, but left whole
- 4 carrotsleave whole if small or quarter lengthways
- 300ml white wine
- 300ml stockuse what you have
- 2 tbsp Armagnacor Madeira, optional, to finish
- thyme sprigsto finish
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal742
- fat38g
- saturates16g
- carbs12g
- sugars9glow
- fibre4g
- protein77ghigh
- salt0.77glow
Method
step 1
Heat oven to 120C/fan 100C/gas ½. Put your largest lidded casserole on the hob and brown the seasoned leg of lamb on all sides - do this very thoroughly until it is a good dark brown as it will not brown during the cooking. (If you don't do it now, it will end up beige.) If the lamb sticks, add a drizzle of oil - legs of lamb differ. Allow 10 mins on a high heat and put on the cooker fan to remove the smoke. Pour away any fat that has collected in the bottom of the pan.
step 2
Throw in the vegetables, followed by the wine and stock. Season and bring to the boil, then clap on the lid and put in the oven. Bake for 7 hrs, turning twice. After 5 hrs the meat will be cooked and offer no resistance to the knife.
step 3
There is no need to rest the meat when cooked in this way, but to finish the sauce, transfer the meat and vegetables to a serving dish. Strain the sauce into a jug and pour or blot away the fat with kitchen paper. Pour the sauce into a pan then boil the liquid hard to reduce by a quarter, by which time it will be rich and flavoursome. Adjust seasoning, add the Armagnac if you wish, and serve alongside the lamb, which should be served with a spoon, a la cuillère as the French call it.