Leg of local lamb, boned and butterflied by the farm shop butcher, this recipe is a first for me as I am bit of a traditionalist when it comes to the roast dinner, especially Christmas Dinner. I think I get that from my dad, as he loves the honest taste of meat with a hint of salt, and is not one for funky new twists, when it comes to roast dinners. The food I grew up with was so adventurous, One memory is that I had to explain the giant cast iron frame above our dinning room table to my friends, that dad had it made so that he could hang giant kebabs or spit roasts with whole chickens on it for each guest, it was dinner with a theatrical feel. As a child I loved going to my friends houses for tea as a because we were given hot dogs with ketchup, or fish fingers beans and chips, however when it was their turn to come to me they got moussaka or goulash lol !!!
Gorgeous roasted leg of lamb, boned, butterflied & marinated in balsamic vinegar, garlic and sea salt. Super fast roast cooking, (15 minutes)!!! Fabulous juicy roasted lamb and unbelievably so quick, 30 mins inc resting time. Not my normal traditional style of cooking but my mum and dad are more adventurous than me and this is a dish they fancied trying. The recipe with the lamb worked well, however I am more in favour of the traditional roast lamb or braised shoulder of lamb or leg of lamb cooked in Beaujolais red wine for a few hours, mmm maybe I am not as traditional as I think I am lol...
The wonderful roux. I like to warm the milk to infuse it with a onion studded with a bayleaf and clove. Then I melt an equal amount of butter with flour to make the roux and cook out for a few minutes stirring all the time, start adding a slosh of the warm milk and stirring in well, repeat until u have a glorious bechamel sauce, then season with salt and white pepper and cook on for approx 20 minutes, then add all the lovely cheese and stir until melted.
Steamed cauliflower ready for the cheese bechamel
Wonderful yummy cheesy cauliflower cheese...
Crispy goose fat roasted potatoes that have the essential crunchy outside with that fluffy centre.
Seared, steamed sweetheart cabbage.
Balsamic roasting juices.
Roast pan gravy, one the best reasons for having a roast, I have to have my gravy over half the roast potatoes and just swirling into the cauliflower cheese sauce, that is my favourite mouthful, this I know drives my dad mad, he has to eat each element of the roast individual to really enjoy their flavour, but every time we have a roast we both are in total disagreement, I just love roasting juices and gravy over all of my dinner.
(serves 6)
Ingredients
For the Lamb
1 leg of lamb boned and butterflied
2 cloves garlic peeled and sliced
50ml ooil
100ml balsamic aged vinegar
1 tbsp sea salt
When all the roast trimmings are only 25 minutes away from being ready I then cook the lamb. While the lamb is resting I like to dish up all the trimmings into pre heated serving bowls and warm the dinner plates ready to serve the lamb on, the rest is on the table for everyone to help themselves.
Pre-heat your oven to 260 degrees, it is essential you have your oven super hot. Ask your butcher to bone out the leg and butterfly, place the lamb skin side down in a shallow roasting tin, using the tip of a sharp knife pierce several shallow pockets in the lamb and push in a slice of garlic, drizzle the ooil over the lamb and rub all over, then pour over the balsamic vinegar and season with sea salt.
This will only take between 15 to 30 minutes to cook to a rare/medium pink lamb, this will depend on how thick your leg of lamb is, the leg of lamb I used was not that thick, therefore I only roasted the lamb for 15 minutes and then covered with foil and rested for another 15 minutes, this is so essential, don't feel tempted to skip the resting stage. Once rested, drain off all the cooking juices into a jug and reserve to use as a gravy, I found this a little too strong for my tastes, and as I prefer a good old fashioned gravy I made both.
Cauliflower cheese
1 cauliflower
1 pinch salt
80g butter
80g plain flower
600ml milk
600g cheddar cheese grated
1 pinch grated nutmeg
1 pinch white pepper
1 pinch sea salt
Warm the milk with the onion, clove and bayleaf, pass through a sieve into a jug, melt the butter in a pan, once melted stir in the flour and cook on a medium heat for a couple of minutes to cook out some of the flour flavour. Start to pour in some of the milk a little at a time and stir in well, keep repeating until all the milk has been incorporated. On a low heat very gently simmer for approx 20 minutes, add the cheese and stir well, taste and then adjust the seasoning.
1 sweetheart cabbage
1 glug ooil
I like to caramelise the sides of the cabbage as it adds another level of flavour, I cut the sweetheart cabbage in to quarters, drizzle over the ooil, and sear each side in a hot frying pan, then I place in the steamer to cook for a few minutes.
For the gravy
1 glug red wine
2 Schwartz roast lamb gravy powder
Juices from the roasting tin
This is my fail proof gravy when I am not going to have or be able to use the roasting tin juices, in this case I would not use the gorgeous roasting juices as the balsamic vinegar would not marry well with old fashioned gravy.
I mix the Schwartz roast lamb gravy powder with the water and the red wine, bring up to a simmer to thicken.
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