When buying just under a kilogram of rolled lamb joint the thought of cooking a flavorful, succulent, fall-apart tender boneless leg of lamb, seasoned Greek-style with loads of garlic, rosemary, oregano and citrus got me thinking.
My mum’s old electric surface top cooker had broken and had been thrown out. Back then a boned shoulder of lamb had come out perfectly. Now, I would have to use her traditional top oven to produce what I hoped would be even better.
Facing doubt, I looked up various online recipes, and came across Greek-style boneless leg of lamb. Yes, it was triple the size of mine, but I was confident my small baby would be just as good.
Getting a crust is when you sear the lamb. In fact, searing creates a beautiful crust and a deeper flavor! For me, it’s worth the little extra effort. I had seasoned the joint before searing with sea salt and black pepper.
Once seared and taken out of the oven, the four sizable holes; two on both sides were filled with a fairly large chunky piece of garlic. With no stock of oregano, a blender was used to chop up and infuse fresh garlic, rosemary and mint, and then powdered paprika and nutmeg, extra virgin olive oil and lemon were added whilst finishing off the mix with sea salt and pepper.
There you have it, a master seasoning to bring out the best flavour in the meat. I’m cooking right now, so tastefulness is of the utmost importance having to impress my mother who spent countless hours cooking for me when I was a growing lad.
The potato wedges were also seasoned in olive oil, garlic salt and finely chopped garlic, sea salt and pepper. Then placed around the centre piece on an oven tray. Fifteen minutes later the foil was removed.
Once the lamb is ready, the online chef said the meat needs to be removed from the oven and left standing for twenty minutes before slicing and eating. She said it will continue cooking internally.
With my limited savvy I assume the cold temperature around it creates a thermic effect that pushes the pressure deep into the meat. Anyway, I skipped it due to my mother’s hunger!
Somewhere along the line it went wrong. Probably the meat wasn’t the highest quality because it was a cheaper cut, and my mother wasn’t suitably impressed by my three hours effort.
Take care!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Sear (v) = burn, scorch, solder, flame, blister, char, parch
Infuse (v) = pervade, fill, permeate, suffuse, bathe, introduce, imbue
Tastefulness (n) = discernment, taste, sophistication, refinement, style, class, attractiveness, elegance, chic, beauty
Utmost (adj) = greatest, highest, extreme, chief, supreme, maximum. Paramount, ultimate, furthest
Skipped (v) = hopped, bounced, pranced, avoided, frisked, missed, cut, bunk off
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