One of the simplest ways of creating a wonderfully tender roast dinner with perfect results every time and, best of all, hardly any washing up.
1 leg of lamb joint
3 onions
Potatoes
Carrots
Parsnips
A glass of white wine
Pint chicken/beef stock
A handful rosemary sprigs
Salt and pepper
Pre-heat your oven to 150 degrees C (Gas Mark 2).
Roughly chop one of the onions and put into a large roasting tray with a really good splash of olive oil. Fry the onions for about a minute then put your leg of lamb in the tray. Brown the lamb on all sides, seasoning well, until all the meat is sealed and golden brown on the outside. Remove the lamb from the pan and put to one side.
Peel all your veg, and chop to roughly the same thickness. Roughly speaking, half your carrots and onions, cut your parsnips into three – once to remove the smaller end then half the larger top half – and half your potatoes if needed.
Put all the veg into the pan and sit the lamb on top. By doing this the lamb steams as well as roasts and with be even more tender. Add the glass of white wine to the pan and let the alcohol burn off for a minute. Then add your stock. Bring this to the boil, before adding your rosemary sprigs, whole. Season the lamb once more and cover the tray with tin foil.
Put the tray into the oven and roast for 60 – 90 minutes, depending on the size of your joint. Because of the bone through the middle of the joint, you won’t need any longer than this.
When you are ready to serve remove the lamb from the oven and place to one side to rest for at least ten minutes before carving. Remove the veg from the roasting tray, plus any excess fat that may have come from the meat. With the rest of the juices you can make your gravy in the usual way, or simply reduce them down to a really intensive jus, perhaps adding some more wine.
After ten minutes the meat should be falling off the bone and ready to serve. Simply break it up and serve with the roasted veg and gravy. Delicious, and virtually no washing up!