As most of you know, getting around to having time to write, in a working Chefs life, is definately not easy. Between juggiling your professional life and your personal life, speaking for myself, so far, I only have the time I spend on the bus as free time. Unbeknownst to most, this is the time I use sometimes to get at least 45 minutes of good sleep! Why 45 minutes? Exact time it takes the bus to get from San Jose to San Lucas. No more, no less!
So to all of you that have been waiting for that almost forgotten roasted lamb recipe, well, here we go....
1 Leg of lamb, debonded and trussed
For the marinade
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, loosely packed
2 T ground cumin
1 T ground cinnamon
2 t ground saffron
Salt, and pepper, to taste
For the roasting vegetables
1/2 lb of carrots, large dice
1/2 lb of celery, large dice
1/2 lb of leeks, large dice
2 large cooking onions, large dice
6 cloves of garlic
10 baby potatoes, cut in half
1/4 c olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together and using your hands, rub the marinade into the meat. Let sit for about 3 hrs previous to roasting (24 hrs would be best if you can spend the time!). Once you are at least 2 hrs close to your serving time, preheat your oven to 275 F. On a large sauté pan or heavy skillet, sear the leg of lamb at medium to high heat, making sure you don´t burn the rub. You can do this by using a pair tof tongs and every two minutes move the meat so you can brown it evenly without burning the spices.
To roast the meat, mix all the roasting vegetables together with the olive oil and season to taste. I personally like to serve the roasting vegetables together with the meat, so when I prepare them, I like to make a nice looking assortment of vegetables by cutting them nicely. If you don´t like to do so, just chop away, but keep them in large pieces. Also, in regards to leaving the garlic whole, well, I just love roasted garlic, so I like to keep those babies whole. If you don´t want to do that, slice the garlic and rub it in with your marinade.
Ok, now, you have your lamb seared, your vegetables ready. Place the meat on top of the veggies, and place the lamb in the oven. Do not cover the lamb with anything. If you do, you´ll loose all that beautifull caramelization that you worked so hard to attain. If you feel like the lamb is about to start burning, just reduce the temperature of your oven. Another way to avoid this... take the lamb out of the oven!
Depending on how well you like your lamb cooked, it should take no more tan 45 minutes to one hour to get it to Medium. I could probably bluff my way around this and tell you that for every pound of meat, you need about 30 minutes of cooking time, but really, in the end, the touch of your finger feeling the meat will tell you the doneness and the amount of extra time the cut will need, if it is required. Trust your gut on this one.
Ok, the lamb leg is roasted! DON´T CUT INTO IT YET!!!!! Let the leg stand for about 15 minutes outside of the oven. If you are afraid it might get cold, just turn down your oven to the lowest minimum and once the 15 minutes have passed, put it back in but do not leave it in for more than 30 minutes. You can proceed and slice it now!
As we mentioned in our story, "The silence of the lamb", serve the lamb together with the veggies and sauce with the same juices that are on the roasting pan. You won´t need any fancy sauce making to get all the flavor on your dish. Serve it with a nice helping of cous cous, a nice simple citrus salad and chow down!!!!
Now.... I wish I had a picture, but unfortunately, the leg was way to good to wait for the camera!
Enjoy!
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