Roast Leg of Lamb with Rosemary

📝 Ingredients

• 1 short-cut bone-in leg of lamb (about 1600 g)
• 6 garlic cloves (4 for the lamb, 2 for the potatoes)
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary (2 for the lamb, 2 for the potatoes)
• 1200 g waxy potatoes
• 3 brown onions (about 150 g each)
• 1 chicken stock cube + 400 ml hot water
• 2 tbsp olive oil (1 for the lamb, 1 for the potatoes)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large roasting tin
• Sharp paring knife
• Chopping board
• Aluminium foil
• Cooking thermometer (optional)

📖 Steps

1. Take the lamb out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking so it cooks evenly. Using the sharp knife, remove the thick layer of white fat by sliding the blade flat underneath it, without cutting into the meat: leave just a thin layer.
2. Peel the garlic. Cut 4 cloves into 3 slivers each and strip the leaves from 2 rosemary sprigs. Make 12 incisions 2 cm deep in the lamb with the tip of the knife, then push a sliver of garlic and a few rosemary needles into each one.
3. Rub the lamb with 1 tbsp olive oil, then season it generously with salt and pepper on all sides. Leave it on the board until the hour's waiting time is up: the salt has time to penetrate and the meat loses the chill of the fridge.
4. Preheat the oven to 220 °C. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1 cm slices. Thinly slice the onions and crush the 2 remaining garlic cloves. In the roasting tin, mix everything with the thyme, 1 tbsp oil, 2 rosemary sprigs, salt and pepper, then spread out in an even layer.
5. Dissolve the stock cube in 400 ml hot water and pour it over the potatoes: the liquid should come two-thirds of the way up them. Place the lamb in the centre, directly on the vegetables, rounded side up.
6. Roast for 15 minutes at 220 °C to sear the surface, until it starts to brown. Then lower the oven to 150 °C and continue for 1 h 15 to 1 h 30 for pink lamb (take it out at a core temperature of 55 °C on the thermometer), or about 1 h 45 for medium meat (63 °C at the core).
7. Every 30 minutes, baste the lamb with the juices from the tin using a spoon. If the potatoes are drying out at the edges, add 10 cl hot water: they should stay soft underneath and brown on top.
8. Take out the lamb, wrap it in foil and leave it to rest on the board for 15 minutes: the juices redistribute and the core temperature rises by another 2 to 3 °C. Meanwhile, turn the oven up to 200 °C and let the potatoes brown for 15 minutes.
9. Carve the lamb into thin slices, at right angles to the bone, holding it by the shank end with a tea towel. Serve straight away with the tender potatoes, the onions and the cooking juices from the tin.