FAST-ROAST TERIYAKI LAMB

I like this recipe because it’s a foolproof way of getting meat perfectly rare for a tableful of guests. Turn the oven on half an hour before your guests are due to arrive. When the last guest arrives, put the lamb in the oven. Join the guests for a drink. Half an hour later, take the lamb out and set aside to rest. Serve the first course. When the first course is over, serve the lamb. No need to make gravy, either – the juices and the teriyaki sauce do that.

The lamb can be a whole, boned, opened- out shoulder if you prefer: the cooking times will be the same (it is the thickness, not the weight, that determines cooking time). Ask your butcher to open-bone or ‘butterfly’ a leg of lamb. Tell them you want to end up with about a kilo of boneless meat. Serves 4-6

1kg (2lb 4oz) (de-boned weight) whole leg of lamb, open-boned 1tbsp olive oil

300ml (10fl oz) teriyaki sauce or dark soy sauce

2tbsp runny honey

Salt

Coriander leaves, to garnish

If the butcher has done a good job, the leg of lamb should be of a pretty even thickness. If one side is thicker than the other, that side will be rarer when cooked. But someone always prefers rare meat, so don’t worry. With a very sharp knife, lightly score the skin side of the lamb in a criss-cross pattern.

Place the lamb leg in a large, flat container greased with the olive oil.

Rub half the teriyaki or dark soy sauce and all the honey all over it. Cover and leave in the fridge to marinate overnight, or for at least a few hours. Remove it from the fridge an hour before you are going to start cooking, so that it can come up to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 240°C/fan 220°C/ gas 9. Sprinkle the lamb with salt and transfer it, together with its marinade, into a roasting tin. Roast for 25 minutes for rare, 30 minutes for medium and 35 minutes for well done. (Add 5 minutes to the roasting times if the boned lamb weighs more than 1.5kg.)

Lift the lamb out of the roasting tin onto a carving board or dish. Cover with kitchen foil and a tea towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Add the rest of the teriyaki or soy sauce to the roasting juices in the tin, along with any juices that have run out of the lamb as it rested. Reheat and tip into a serving jug. Slice the meat and garnish with coriander. Serve with a spoonful of the juices.