Autumn is here and savory foods are a welcome addition to your dinner menu. This recipe is very simple and fairly effortless that will absolutely amaze your friends. Shown here is a 5.4 lb boneless leg of New Zealand lamb and will satisfy 8 – 10 guests depending who you invite. 🙂 Make sure that you take your lamb out of the refrigerator at least two hours before you want to cook it – meats should always be room temperature when you prepare them for cooking. If your leg of lam has plastic wrapping then carefully remove it, but not the string. Our pic shows red colored twine holding our leg together. Only remove the twine once it is fully cooked, we use meat scissors to cut it off. Although we share duration of cooking, internal temperature is absolutely of paramount importance. Invest in a good meat thermometer as ovens may run hotter than others, and you don’t want to ruin a great meal or waste money. We cooked ours to medium, pink inside and super moist.
Lamb, the super protein, is a fantastic source of protein, packed with essential amino acids in perfect ratios. Lamb has amazing cancer-fighting conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), lots of omega-3’s approximately 50% of what is found in tuna, less saturated fat and fewer calories than other meats such as beef. Just a few ounces provides a ton of B12, Selenium, B3, Iron, Zinc, and Phosphorous, which makes this choice of protein a winner in our Nutty Kitchen. For more details on lamb nutrition, visit Dr. Axe.
Here is how you do it:
Select a leg of lamb that is marbled with a little fat on the outside – don’t cut the fat off.
Allow for your leg to warm to room temperature, remove plastic, but keep the twine. Salt and pepper on top only- that’s it. Toward the final cooking time, add a few sprigs of fresh rosemary. Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees F convection. Place your leg of lamb into your favorite roasting pan and sear it for 15 minutes so it gets a little brown and crisp. Then reduce heat to 325 F convection (don’t cover) and place your meat thermometer into the thickest part of the leg. Total cooking time for medium for this size is about 1 hour and 45 minutes with an internal temperature of 140 to 145 degrees. If you prefer it medium-rare (on the rare side) we suggest the internal temperature to be around 130 – 135 degrees. Check on it ever so often and baste it with it’s own juice.
Once you’ve reached your desired temperature, remove it from the oven and let it sit for 10 minutes covered with foil, keeping it perfectly warm and moist. Cut into desired portions and serve with your favorite sides. We suggest Bacon Mango Butternut Hash, Apple Butternut Hash, or Sweet Potatoes with Cayenne, plus a lovely bright salad such as Avocado and Tomato Salad.
As you can see it’s that easy to prepare this and leaving time for you to share in some fun and a glass of wine with your friends as it’s working its’ magic in the oven.
Wishing you success! Jo and Henry
Nutty Kitchen 