Roast Lamb & Minty Gravy

INGREDIENTS

1 2kg leg of lamb

1 whole onion

1 bunch rosemary

Peel of half a lemon 

4 garlic cloves

4 anchovies

Olive oil

1kg large potatoes, peeled and cut into 4-5cm halves/quarters/chunks

2tbsp rice bran oil/ghee

½ jap pumpkin, skin left on, cut into 4cm wedges

2 bunches broccolini 

boiling water

1 cup roughly chopped mint leaves

1 tsp sugar

1 tbs red wine vinegar

1 tbs green peppercorns - crushed (or freshly crack black if you don’t have)

½-1 glass of red wine pending on your normal pour - use a measuring cup to get 125ml if you like but it seems silly to dirty 2 vessels!

50g butter

2tbsp flour

1tsp beef stock powder/ 1 cube

Method

Arrange THE oven racks so one is lower for veg and you have room for (hopefully) about a 2cm flow gap above the top of the tallest veg or tray lip and then the second rack for lamb is on the middle/high ground. It’s a tricky metric, but do this while everything is cold and practice with the chosen pans and the raw leg/veg! This will make you feel 47 steps ahead of the game later. 

Preheat the oven to 200’c fan. 

Pierce the leg of lamb deeply with the tip of a sharp knife, without going all the way through, all over about 3-4cm apart. You should create about 10-15 holes.

Cut the garlic cloves into 2mm slivers (you’ll only need about 12 slivers for this bit, set the rest aside). 

Pluck the rosemary leaves from 2 stems and set aside.

Cut the lemon peel into smaller slivers.

Cut the anchovies into thirds. 

Gather small bundles of lemon, anchovy, rosemary and garlic and push them deep into a hole. 

Repeat and fill every hole. 

Slice onion into 5-6 even slices and place close together in the centre of a lightly oiled flameproof baking dish. 

Crosshatch remaining rosemary on top of the onions. 

Rub the lamb with oil and season with salt and sit on the onion rosemary trivet. 

Place in the oven and roast for 20mins to seal and brown the meat. 

Then, using the trusty roast calculator as my guide, turn it down to 160’c fan and cook for a further 1hr 20mins. 

Meanwhile, boil the potato in plenty of salted water for 10mins, drain and place them back into the saucepan with the ghee/rice bran oil. PUT THE lid back on and give them a rough shake/bash around to fluff up the edges. 

Tip them onto a lightly oiled baking tray (lower sides are better for veg roasting). 

Put a piece of pumpkin into the saucepan and coat both sides using any remaining oil in the saucepan, add some more if necessary. (don’t wash this pan yet!)

Nestle the pumpkin in amongst the potatoes and season well. 

When there is about 40mins remaining on the lamb, place the veg tray into the oven.

Do not disturb this situation until the timer goes off unless you have an uneven oven and see that rotating the trays - lamb and veg - is necessary. 

The lamb will rest for about 25-30 mins so at that point if the veg needs more time you can raise it to the upper shelf and push the heat back up. Keep your eye out for that golden deliciousness. 

Remove once cooked and place in the warm dish with the lamb. 

Heat a ceramic plate/dish with boiling or hottest water from the tap and dry it. 

Once the lamb is done place it on the dish and cover with foil (leaving any onions/herbs behind in the pan). Find a warm place or rest it on a wooden board off a cold kitchen bench. 

To make the gravy:

In a heatproof jug, pour 1 cUP boiling water over the mint leaves, sugar and vinegar. Set aside. 

Place the roasting pan over a medium high heat hotplate and stir the remaining onions and herbs about. Add the peppercorns and immediately deglaze the pan with the wine and continue stirring until evaporated and you have released all those sticky delicious bits. 

Throw in the knob of butter, a splash of oil, beef stock powder and the flour. Stir this until it is well combined.

Begin to slowly pour in the mint tea (including all the leaves) and stir/whisk until smooth. 

Add more water if you want it less thick, or allow it to reduce on low if you want thicker. 

We don’t mind a bit of chunk in our gravy, but this can be strained if you are more refined than us (likely!)

Remember the dirty potato pan? Good.. add another splash of oil over medium heat and fry the remaining garlic slivers for 5 mins till beginning to golden. 

Wash and trim the broccolini to desired size and turn the heat back up and throw into the pan with the garlic while still wet with a big pinch of salt and any remaining lemon skin. Toss this around and allow to steam sizzle until vibrant and just cooked - for thicker or a more “done” veg, after trimming, place into a heatproof bowl and pour boiling water over it then drain after 2mins. 

Serve all items on platters or straight from trays to plates. This dish is good for both family and fancy. 

Sidebar: I PROMISE the anchovies will disintegrate and even the most avid hater of them will not dislike this… don’t tell them till after they have eaten though because you know what they’re like 🙄