How to cook the perfect roast leg of lamb
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- + salting + resting
- Easy
- Serves 8
Ingredients
- 2kg leg of lamb
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp sea salt flakes
- 100g unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- finely chopped to make 1 tbsp rosemary
- 2 tbsp capers
MINT SAUCE
- a bunch mint, leaves picked
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1-2tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- a pinch caster sugar
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
Method
- STEP 1
Remove the lamb from the fridge 1 hour before cooking, and very lightly score the meat with a sharp knife in a criss-cross pattern all over. Drizzle very lightly with oil to coat and then sprinkle all over with the salt and leave to marinate for 1 hour. Put the butter, garlic and rosemary into a small food processor and whizz until smooth. Add the capers and pulse several times to mix and slightly break up. Rub the caper butter all over the lamb, to coat evenly.
- STEP 2
Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Put the lamb into a shallow roasting tin and cook in the oven for 1 hour, basting with the caper butter halfway through. If you have a digital thermometer, probe the lamb in the thickest part – it should read between 50-55C. Put the lamb onto a plate, pouring over all of the caper butter and loosely cover with foil to rest for 20 minutes or until it hits a temperature of 60C, before carving.
- STEP 3
Meanwhile, to make the mint sauce, put the mint leaves into a food processor and pulse briefly to chop and bruise. Add the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, sugar and a little seasoning, and whizz until smooth. Pour into a serving bowl and stir through the chopped shallot. Serve with the lamb and caper butter.
