Lamb legwork worth it
Ican’t believe that Easter is already upon us. Daylight saving has been and gone, the evenings are noticeably cooler and I feel ready to combine some of the slow-cooking methods of winter with the last of the salad season.
So today’s Easter recipe is for a fairly classic slowcooked lamb leg, roasted for a total of 51⁄2 hours, but you could easily add an extra hour if you needed.
The trick to keeping it moist is to put liquid in the base of the dish and to cover it with foil for the first period of cooking. It is only at the end that the meat is browned, and the remaining fat becomes golden and crunchy.
Meanwhile the salad is loaded with a fabulous blend of complementary flavours for the lamb.
The base is a mixture of peppery rocket and fine couscous, layered up with sweet, ripe tomatoes, caramelised onions and currants, salty black olives and feta, freshly grated zucchini and nubbly pine nuts.
The whole lot is drizzled with a simple, herby yoghurt dressing. Any leftovers make a great sandwich or roll filling the next day – if there’s any left over, of course.
Slow-roasted lamb leg
Serves: 6-8 Preparation: 10 minutes Cooking: 51⁄2 hours 2.4 kilo lamb leg, bone in (I used easy carve) 4 large sprigs rosemary
8 cloves garlic, peeled and halved if large 11⁄2 cups white wine sea salt
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius and remove the lamb from the fridge.
Lay the rosemary sprigs in the base of a big oven dish and place the lamb on top, fat side up. Use the tip of a sharp knife to cut slits into the lamb. Poke garlic into each hole – quite deeply as it will pop up while cooking.
Pour the wine into the base of the dish (not over the lamb) and season the lamb really well with sea salt.
Cover with tinfoil and cook for 41⁄2 hours. Increase the oven temperature to 170C, remove the tinfoil and cook a further 60 minutes until golden and the meat will be about to fall off the bone.
Serve on a bed of fresh rosemary with rocket, couscous, tomato and feta salad with herby garlic dressing.
Rocket, couscous, tomato & feta salad with herby garlic dressing
Serves 6-8 Preparation: 30 minutes Cooking: 10 minutes (sitting time)
Dressing:
2⁄3 cup Greek natural yoghurt 1⁄3 cup good-quality mayonnaise 1 clove garlic, crushed 1⁄3 cup mint leaves 1⁄3 cup basil leaves
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon 2 teaspoons water
Salad:
1 cup water
2 cups vegetable stock
11⁄2 cups couscous
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups rocket leaves (reserve 1 cup to garnish) 2 cups mixed cherry tomatoes, sliced (reserve a few to garnish) 1⁄3 cup currants 2⁄3 cup black olives, stones removed (after buying) 180 grams feta, crumbled (reserve some to garnish) 1 large or 2 small zucchini grated 2⁄3 cup caramelised onions 1⁄3 cup toasted pine nuts
For the dressing, put all of the ingredients in a small food processor and whiz to combine. Refrigerate, covered for up to 2 days.
Line an oven tray with baking paper.
For the salad, bring the water and stock to a boil in a large pot.
Turn off the heat, add the couscous, stir to combine and cover with a well-fitted lid. Leave to sit for 10 minutes then add the olive oil and butter and fluff the couscous with a fork.
Season well with salt and pepper and tip out onto the prepared baking tray to cool.
To serve, layer the couscous onto a large serving pate with the rocket, tomatoes, currants, olives, feta, grated zucchini and caramelised onion.
As you layer the salad, drizzle with dressing as you go. Garnish with reserved rocket leaves, tomatoes, feta and pine nuts and a last drizzle of dressing.