It’s Sunday night roast time at the Matla house and we’ve decided to go with a slow roasted rosemary and garlic leg of lamb. Lamb is one of these dishes that need not be overly complicated. In fact, the simpler the better.
I picked up a 1.7kg bone in leg of lamb from the lads up at The Butcher this morning, brought it home and prepped the joint with fresh rosemary from the garden, 5 cloves of garlic, a good helping of extra virgin olive oil, Kosher salt and a good grinding of freshly ground pepper.
Simply take a sharp knife and make about 20 incisions deep enough to house a slice of garlic and a 1/2″ spring of fresh rosemary. The incisions should go around the joint and should be evenly spaced to allow for the maximum flavour penetration when you grill. Now drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and season with Kosher Salt and freshly ground pepper. I then placed the joint in a dish and wrapped it with cling film. Popped it into the fridge until about 35 minutes before grilling time!
Set your grill up for direct heat at 300 degrees Fahrenheit however before you go on for the long haul, sear your joint on each side when the fire is nice and piping hot. This only takes a few minutes and then you can work your temperature down to 300 F and place your joint into a v-rack and a drip pan covered in alumunium foil and then in the middle of the grate. Let the magic happen (without peeking) for about 2 hours or until you reach an internal temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the joint and cover it with an aluminium foil tent for at least 10 minutes before you carve it up!
Along with the lamb, we served up some grilled vegetables, mint yoghurt and a triple herb infused flat bread. The grilled veggies included carrots, green pepper, yellow onions and whole garlic while the flat bread contained fresh thyme, rosemary and oregano from the front garden. Yum!
Triple Herb Flatbread
1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup warm water
250g plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Combine your olive oil and water separately and set aside. Process flour, salt and rosemary, thyme and oregano in a food processor. Slowly pour the olive oil and water mixture into the flour until the mixture forms a soft dough. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead until smooth. Once done, place the dough into a bowl covered with a dry cloth and set aside for about 30 minutes.
To finish the flatbread, divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape each one into a ball. Roll out each ball on a floured work surface until they’re very thin. Heat a small cast iron pan over a medium heat and dry fry the bread for 3 minutes on each side until golden. Transfer the bread to a roasting dish lined with foil, brush with melted butter and keep warm in the oven until needed.
To top tonight’s feast, our son Alex insisted on making his own crème brûlée following the Food Network’s very own Alton Brown’s recipe. He’s really shaping up to be quite the cook at 13 and hopefully by the time he’s 21, he’ll be a natural in any kitchen! Cheers and bon apetite!
Overall Heather Rating: 9/10
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