Roast Lamb Jamie Style….

It's been quite a while since my last recipe post and so I thought being the weekend I would share this amazingly delicious Roast Lamb!!! I stumbled across this Jamie Oliver recipe a few months ago in the weekend paper. Its been cooked many times over since then because it seriously is so easy and delicious. I also love that it can be served with a trayful of roasted golden veggies or with a simple salad.

So, you will need…

2.5-3 kg leg of lamb
100g unsalted, softened butter
1/2 bunch thyme leaves
1/2 bunch rosemary leaves
4 unpeeled red onions, halved
2 garlic bulbs, cloves separated

Preheat your oven to 220 deg celcius. Score the lamb all over 1/2 cm apart and about 3mm deep- like you would with a ham! Make a herb butter by popping the butter, thyme and rosemary into a blender and whizzing well to combine. Season with some salt and pepper. I also cheat by chopping herbs finely then using hands mix into butter. The messier option, but less washing up and still effective!

Arrange the red onions and garlic cloves in a large roasting tray. Place lamb on veggies in tray then rub the herb butter generously all over the top of the lamb. Put into oven to cook until meat is to your liking. Jamie's tip for 'blushing' meat is roasting 10 minutes for each 450g, plus an extra 20 minutes at the end. When lamb is cooked, allow another 10-20 minutes to rest.

Based on these times, our 2.5kg roast needed an hour and ten minutes in the oven and extra time for resting.

The suggested side for this dish was a celeriac mash and a heavenly gravy. I tried the gravy and it was, hands down, the best gravy I have ever made. Can highly recommend.

So…recipe for gravy goes like this…

Drain any 'fat' or 'oil' from the roasting tray, leaving onion and garlic remnants and other meaty bits. Squish the onion and garlic into the tray. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of gravy over the tray, mixing and coating the onions and garlic. Pour in a 'glug' of port and a litre of hot chicken stock. Place on high heat and mix so that it is well combined. Keep stirring, allowing gravy to reduce. Pour through a sieve if needed, however, my gravy turned out so smooth and flavoursome.
Please note- I have also made without Port and still tastes good.

Otherwise, I served ours with some roasted Potatoes and a simple slaw made up of red cabbage, carrot and avocado lightly coated with some aioli mayo and some home made mint sauce.

And I dont have to mention the yummy leftover lamb sandwiches that followed……x

Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!!