• CourseDinner
  • CuisineBritish
  • KeywordEaster, Fine Food, Flavor, New Year’s, Special Dinner, Spring, Sunday Dinner
Servings Prep Time
6people 15minutes
Passive Time Total Time
30minutes see recipe
Servings Prep Time
6people 15minutes
Passive Time Total Time
30minutes see recipe
Tips
My roasting pan will not work with my induction cook top, so I added the wine to the roasting pan, hot from the oven, and then scraped up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan that I could. I then strained the pan juices into a small sauce pan and reduced by a little (maybe 1/3) over medium high heat, then reduced the heat to low to keep warm until serving.
Degree of Difficulty
Moderately difficult
Ingredients
  • 1shank in leg of lamb
  • 1-2tbspn kosher salt
  • 1tbspn oil for rubbing onto leg of lamb
  • 2cloves garlicsliced
  • 2whole onionsthickly sliced
  • 3sprigs rosemary
  • water for bottom of roasting pan
  • 1cup Cabernet Sauvignon or other good red wine
Instructions
  1. Gather all ingredients before starting the recipe.
  2. Weigh the leg of lamb and determine the roasting time. The formula is a roasting time of 20 minutes per pound of lamb; so a 3 pound roast would require 60 minutes of total roasting time where the first 30 minutes of time, regardless of the total time, is at 400°F and the remaining roasting time, in this case, is 30 minutes at 350°F. The time will depend on the weight of the roast.
  3. Season all sides of the roast well, enough salt so that you can see it and leave for at least an hour at room temperature before roasting. I often season roasts up to 4 hours (and leave on the counter) before cooking, and if I have time, I will place it in the refrigerator overnight, uncovered, and then remove at least an hour before cooking.
  4. Pre heat oven to 400°F.
  5. Rough chop 2 onions and place on the bottom of a roasting pan.
  6. Poke holes under the skin with the tip of a knife, and insert slivers of garlic. Tear off little sprigs of rosemary from the stem, and insert this in the same slit. These will flavor the lamb and also show you where you inserted the garlic so you can remove before carving.
  7. Pour enough water around the roast to come up 1/2″ around the sides of the pan and then place the in a pre heated oven.
  8. Roast for the pre-determined time and temperature. If the pan looks dry, add more water and tip the pan to loosen the baked on brown bits all around the pan. This will make a delicious au jus at the end.
  9. When the roasting time is finished, remove the roast from the oven, transfer to a platter and allow to rest for 30 minutes before carving.
Au Jus
  1. Remove roasted onion to a separate bowl, you can keep this warm and serve aside the lamb.
  2. Transfer roasting pan to medium high on your cook top and add one cup of red wine to the roasting pan. Using a wooden spoon, stir and scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce wine by a third, pour jus through a strainer into a small sauce pan placed over medium low heat, and reserve until ready to serve.