INGREDIENTS:

1 leg of lamb with bone (about 7 to 9 pounds) trimmed of excess fat
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/8 cup Dry Sherry
1/8 cup Wine Vinegar
1 Lime - juiced
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce (Kikkoman) use low sodium if desired
1 Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper corns (Tellicherry) is considered the best
1 Teaspoon Kosher or Sea Salt
3 Garlic Cloves - minced fine
5 or 6 dashes of Liquid Smoke
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped fine or 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground thyme
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped fine or 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground rosemary
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon Wild Bill's Meat Rub

Mix all ingredients except leg of lamb and Wild Bill's Meat Rub in a plastic or stainless steel bowl.  Trim leg of lamb of excess fat but leave at least 1/8 inch thick fat.  Transfer marinade to a large zip lock type plastic bag and add leg of lamb.  Place in refrigerator for 1 to 2 days and overhaul the meat/marinade every few hours to evenly distribute the marinade. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.   Remove leg of lamb from marinade allow excess to drain off.  Add a light sprinkling of Wild Bill's Meat Rub to the entire leg of lamb and allow to rest about 30 minutes to one hour to come up to room temperature before roasting.   Add 2 cups of water and/or orange juice to the bottom of a roasting pan and place roast on top section of roasting pan with fattest side up .  Cover any area of the exposed leg bone with a piece of aluminum foil.  Place a reliable digital meat thermometer probe into the thickest part of the meat and do not allow probe to rest against the bone, otherwise a higher than normal reading takes place since the bone absorbs and holds the heat quicker.  Place the leg of lamb in oven at 400 degrees F. for 30 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and roast an additional 60 minutes which should register about 140 degrees F. for medium rare.   Leave in the oven an additional 30 minutes for medium to well done.  Exact cooking time will depend on the weight of the leg of lamb and individual oven temperature.  Transfer leg of lamb to cutting board; cover with foil.  Let stand 15 to 20 minutes before carving.   Internal temperature will continue to rise about 5 to 10 degrees F during this resting time. 

GRAVY/ROUX INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons reserved drippings from roasting pan
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
2 cups heavy cream
Kosher or Sea Salt (to taste)
Freshly ground black pepper corns (Tellicherry) to taste
Additional heavy cream or milk if needed to thin gravy/roux

While leg of lamb is resting, prepare a simple gravy or roux using the drippings from the roaster pan.  

Rule of thumb;  use 1 tablespoon of drippings for each cup of gravy/roux desired.    Place roasting pan on stove on medium high heat.   Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the drippings in the pan and dissolve 2 tablespoons of corn starch in 1/4 cup of water.  Add the corn starch water mixture to the roaster pan and using a wire whisk to blend into the drippings.  It will take about 5 minutes for the mixture to thicken and then slowly add at least 2 cups of heavy cream, milk, chicken stock, water (your choice) but I prefer the heavy cream, continuing to whisk until the desired thickness is obtained.  Season with Kosher or Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper corns (Tellicherry).  To prevent gravy/roux from burning and/or sticking to the roaster pan, whisk constantly.  Add additional liquid if gravy/roux thickens too much.

YIELD:  8 to 10 servings depending on the size of the leg of lamb

Serve with your favorite sides and of course Mint Jelly!

Above leg of lamb served with parmesan roasted red potatoes, asparagus and lamb gravy on 09-04-12.  I waited until after our evening meal to take a pix of the carved lamb and it had dried out a little and lost it's camera appeal.  Studio photographers would normally apply a coat of vegetable oil glaze to the meat for the camera effect but I didn't want to do that.  The leg of lamb was very good.  My digital thermometer was reading high for some reason and had to place the lamb back into the oven an additional 30 plus minutes to get away from the rare to medium rare doneness....it was far to red for myself and I knew my bride could not handle the lamb that rare either.  This leg of lamb came with the shank bone removed at the knuckle, however it did have the upper bone and I cut away a couple pounds of meat before marinating since I want to do an Iranian kabab koobideth on the grill.  Wild Bill's Meat Rub gave a good crust or bark to the leg of lamb along with the rosemary and thyme from the marinade!

Click on sequence thumbnail pixs below for a larger view:

I had to special order the leg of lamb from our local supermarket and the above leg of lamb was 7.8 lbs. and cost over 64 dollars.  A little pricey and one could purchase good rib eye steaks for that price but I wanted to do my version of leg of lamb for the web site.   Our next leg of lamb meal will not doubt be from a Greek Restaurant about 50 miles from here.   

NOTES:  Growing up in the southern part of North Carolina, Anson County, I do not recall ever consuming any type of lamb.  It just wasn't available and/or a demand for it in this "neck of the woods" for table fare.  While stationed in Morocco with the US Navy  between 1965 to 1967 I did enjoy eating lamb and it was customary to finish off the meal with hot Moroccan mint tea.  Even today in Wadesboro, NC my home town, you have to special order a leg of lamb or a rack of lamb from the  meat department of the larger supermarkets.   Once in a blue moon,  you will find lamb chops at our local Food Lion Supermarket!

  Bill Porter circa 1966 in Kenitra, Morocco Africa with the US Navy

Web posted by Bill aka Mickey Porter 08-12-12 with pixs added on 09-04-12.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE