A flock of favorite lamb recipes

A basic roast leg of lamb is one of the best things you can cook. But with a little more effort, you can make something really special. Here are seven of my favorite lamb dishes, for both bone-in and butterflied legs, cooked in the oven or on the grill, and even a couple of pot roasts. For full recipes for any of these dishes, search our California Cookbook recipe collection at recipes.latimes.com . Roast leg of lamb with rosemary, garlic and anchovies: Cut thin slits all over the surface of a bone-in leg. Insert a thin slice of garlic, a tuft of rosemary and a smidge of salted anchovy into each slit. Rub with olive oil and roast. Leg of lamb stuffed with greens, feta and pine nuts: Combine braised cooking greens, crumbled feta and toasted pine nuts, and use this to stuff a boneless leg. Roll and tie the leg, rub with olive oil and roast. Before serving, make a pan sauce with red wine, rosemary and chopped green olives. Pot-roasted lamb with fennel and potatoes: Sear a tied boneless leg in a Dutch oven. Cook onion and garlic, then add quartered fennel bulbs and small potatoes. Pour over white wine, return the leg to the pot, cover and cook. Lamb and lentils to eat with a spoon: Brown onions, carrots, garlic and a bone-in leg in a Dutch oven in a 425degree oven. Add water, tomato paste and red wine, cover tightly and roast 5½ to 6 hours. Add cooked lentils and finish with minced herbs. Lamb marinated in yogurt, garlic and rosemary: Slather a boneless leg with a paste made from garlic, rosemary, olive oil and salt. Put it in a plastic bag and add yogurt. Rub well and refrigerate overnight. Great on the grill; really good in the oven. Indian-spiced grilled lamb: Stir together yogurt, red wine vinegar, garlic, black pepper, grated ginger, sliced serrano chile, ground cumin and salt. Put a boneless leg in a plastic bag and pour the marinade over. Refrigerate overnight. Perfect for grill or oven. Grilled butterflied leg of lamb with olive-fennel tapenade: Thinly slice garlic and insert in slits cut in the skin of a boneless leg. Season with salt and pepper, put in a plastic bag and pour over red wine. Refrigerate two to three hours before grilling or roasting. Make a tapenade to serve alongside by grinding pitted brined black olives with minced garlic, fennel seed, red wine vinegar, olive oil, Pernod and parsley.