For christmas dinner we followed my grandmother's tried and true recipe. Nothing could be tastier or easier.
Roast leg of lamb
1 leg of lamb (ours was about 9 lbs)
15 garlic cloves, sliced into thick slices (more or less to taste)
1/2 a lemon, juiced
Worcestershire sauce
powdered ginger
kosher salt
pepper
- Preheat over to 350. Place meat in a large roasting pan, preferably on a roasting rack.
- Trim extra fat from the leg of lamb. Cut slits in it and stick the garlic slices in the slits.
- pour the lemon juice over the meat. Liberally sprinkle with worcestershire sauce, powdered ginger, pepper and extra liberally with salt.
- Bake until thermometer reads around 160F, approximately 3.5 hours.
This meal fed us for two nights, amazingly. Tonight, Andy made stew from the last of the meat on the bone. After much thought and a bit of recipe research here's what he came up with. It was delicious.
Moroccan lamb stew with lentils and winter squash (from left-over leg of lamb)
Left-over leg of lamb (bone with plenty of meat remnants left on it)
carrots, cliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1/2 large butternut squash, peeled and chped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
1 c. red wine
1 onion, sliced
garlic
1/2 c. lentils
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
1 1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/4 tsp.ground cinnamon
Salt, to taste
- Make lamb stock by placing leg of lamb into a large pot and covering in water (6 quarts or so) and bring it to a boil, then simmering for one hour. YOu should have extra to freeze or use for another meal
- strain the stock through a colander, seperating out the meat for the stew, setting aside the broth and throwing away the bones and fatty pieces.
- In a separate large, heavy bottomed pot saute the carrot, onion, garlic and squash. Add the tomatoes with their juices and the wine. Add the spices and the lentils and bring to a high simmer.
- Using kitchen shears, cut the meat off the bone to get 2-3 cups, if you can.
- Add the meat and 6-7 cups of the broth you made.
- Cook for 20-30 minutes until all the vegtables and lentils are tender, but not mushy.