Simple Roasted Leg of Lamb - Recipes

Recipe,, Simple Roast Leg of Lamb, Erik Desjarlais, Lulu Peyraud, Tempier, Bandol, Evangeline, Portland, ME

Simple Roast Leg of Lamb “Lulu Peyraud”

Recipe Courtesy of chef Erik Desjarlais of Evangeline restaurant, Portland, ME

The cooking of Lulu Peyraud, the matriarch of Domaine Tempier in Bandol, France, is my inspiration for this lamb dish. Her approach to cooking was essentially the “mother’s milk” that nurtured me when I was a young cook. Heavy on simplicity, with olives and garlic, the flavors are the quintessential accoutrement to lamb. Peeled and roasted new potatoes would be a perfect addition, along with some braised bitter greens. The leg itself should offer up a wide range of doneness, based on your guests needs. Everything from perfect “a point” to well done and crispy toward the shank bone.

Total Time

About 4 hours

Ingredients

Lamb:

- 1 7lb bone in leg of lamb, pelvic bone removed

- 1 onion, chopped

- 1 white leek, chopped

- 2 heads garlic split along equator

- 1 cup pitted Provencal black olives

- 5 salted anchovy fillets, rinsed and chopped

- 2 cups Provencal white wine (a dry white wine)

- 5 sprigs thyme

- 5 sprigs parsley

- olive oil

- butter

- salt and pepper

Sauce:

- 1 cup dry white wine

- 1/2 cup pitted Provencal olives chopped

- 3 salted anchovy fillets, rinsed and chopped

- 3 shallots, minced

- chopped parsley

- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

Directions

1) Allow the lamb leg to sit out at room temperature for 2 hours. This part is crucial. Meanwhile, prepare your other ingredients. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2) Heat a heavy bottomed 9 quart pan (such as a Le Crueset) over medium heat. Rub the leg with olive oil and liberally season with salt and cracked pepper. Pour 1/8” olive oil in pan, and as soon as it smokes, add the leg. Add about a 1/4 cup of butter and brown the leg on all sides, slowly. This should take about 30 minutes. If the butter begins to darken, degrease the pan and add new oil and butter. (Noisette is okay, but noir is not.)

3) Once the leg is browned, remove from the pot, degrease the pot, and add the onion, leek, parsley, olives, anchovies, thyme, and garlic. The juices from the vegetables will deglaze the fond from the pot. Place the lamb leg back in the pot sprinkle with a bit of the white wine, and place in the oven. Roast for 20 minutes then turn the oven down to 300 degrees. Roast for another 50 minutes, deglazing the pan with white wine as you go. You want to create a glaze, then de-glaze.

4) When a meat thermometer reads 128 degrees in the fattest part of the leg, pull it out of the oven and out of the pot. Let it rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board. While it rests, deglaze the pot again over high heat with the one cup of the reserved white wine, and scrape up all the tasty bits from the bottom with a wood spoon. Strain through a chinois, and reserve the liquid. Discard the spent aromatics. Reduce the liquid in a saucepan and once it coats a spoon, add the shallots, olives, anchovies, parsley, and butter. Season to taste, adding a few drops of sherry vinegar to sparkle it up a bit.

5) Carve the leg at the table for the “ooh…ahhhh” effect, and serve the sauce in a tureen with a ladle. (Make sure your mother-in-law gets to pick off little bits of crispy fat, seasoned with fleur de sel, before it arrives to the table.)

RECIPE - SIMPLE ROAST LEG OF LAMB