Lamb two ways

A rainy no-child Sunday begins with a hangover and a bus ride to Marrickville Market.

I love cooking and shopping with my boys, but I struggle to find the right balance of doing jobs and needfuls, and just hanging out, playing games and reading, and going on adventures. I suppose that, over any 2-month period, you do all of those things, you can’t be too bad a dad…

This week, I’m cooking ahead with a leg of lamb from Marrickville Market’s Young Lamb Man. Young is here. Marrickville Market is here.

As you know, I like to butterfly a leg of lamb to retain the bones for stock, and marinate and barbecue for yiros.

Today, though, I tried to make the most of the two major cuts in a lamb leg - the shank, and everything else.

The shank I set aside for a bachelor soup or the slow cooker, while the rest I butterflied, rubbed with garden herbs, and tied into a roasting roll.

The roasting roll is now marinating in the fridge, with the shank tucked into the freezer.

The roast is a 3-boy dinner, with enough for school lunch wrap the following day. Super!

Recipe - easy carving herbed lamb roast

Ingredients

• Butterflied leg of lamb
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 2 sprigs sage
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• cooking twine for tying

Method

With a mortar and pestle (or blender) create a herb paste with the rosemary, sage, garlic and olive oil.

Lay out the lamb with the fat side down, and rub the paste into the lamb.

Roll the lamb and tie with cooking twine. Today, I used three butchers knots across, and one down the length, which works fine - but there are prettier, more elaborate ways to do it.

Place it, covered, in the fridge for a of hours (or overnight) in this case.

Remove from fridge about an hour before you plan to cook it.

Preheat oven to 200º.

Roast uncovered for 15 minutes. Drop temperature to 160º. Remove lamb from oven to baste with pan juices. Return to the oven for another 30 mins, basting again after 15 mins.

This should achieve a medium-rare roast, with lovely pinkish slices with a crispy crust.

If you prefer medium or well done, just add one or two extra 15 min cooking periods - but don’t forget to baste for each!

Remove from oven and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before carving.

Butterflying lamb leg and removing the shank

Tying a butchers knot