When in doubt, stuff it
When I ordered a leg of lamb from Eric and Carrie Johnson they asked me if I wanted it boneless and I said no; I always prefer my meat roasted with its bone in as it increases the flavor of the final product. But that’s just my stock answer, actually I had no idea how to cook a leg of lamb and even on Sunday as the lamb sat on my counter I still wasn’t totally sure what to do with it.
I have a Cook’s Illustrated book about roasting meat checked out from the library, so I consulted it. Very rarely does CI steer me wrong, and yet when they do (much like google maps) it can be a confusing and tense situation. Unfortunately for me this proved to be one of those instances of “what the hell were they thinking”. They began by advising me to place the leg, meaty side down! What do they mean, meaty side down, it’s all meaty? Then they instructed me to remove a gray lymph node from the leg, cautioning me not to pierce the node with my knife. So I fondled the meat, trimmed the excess fat, and hesitantly poked about for this “lymph node”. At that point I’m doubting the whole idea of leg of lamb, and that’s when I decided that those well defined lobes of meat were coming off the bone.
This brings me to a truth I’ve encountered on more than one occasion, but which I always forget; the best way to get to know a new cut of meat is to debone it. Working my blade through the tender meat allowed me to see clearly that there was no lymph node hiding anywhere. Not there, thank god! I butterflied all the large pieces of meat and the odd scraps and bits were chopped fine and cooked up for Lovejoy.
I have a standby, foolproof, stuffing for meat that is so simple and flavorful it never misses. I take 4 slices of whole wheat sandwich bread and toast them. One they are cool I grind them up in the food processor along with 2 cloves of garlic, a 2 inch chunk of Parmesan, half of a frozen cigar of basil, salt and pepper. Add just enough olive oil to make it come together and it’s done.
Season the lamb on both sides with salt and pepper, spoon the stuffing onto the meat and pat it evenly across. Add strips of a fire-roasted bell pepper. Roll it up, secure it with string and bake it on a roasting rack in a 350F oven until the thermometer reads 135F. Remove it, let it rest for 10 minutes, cut the strings off, slice and serve.
The results were, much to my relief, extraordinary. The lamb was flavorful, tender, and almost sweet. The stuffing was indeed the perfect foil, and it was cooked perfectly for our tastes. Everyone liked it and I’ll certainly make it again.
Lessons learned: Cook’s Illustrated is sometimes scary wrong, using your knife to get to know a new cut of meat isn’t a bad thing, and when in doubt, stuff it.
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Lamb is a beautiful meat – us brits eat it most commonly with mint sauce.
I roast it 20 mins per pound, + 20 mins for medium. gravy with redcurrant jelly stirred through is great – as is a ratatouille with plain roasted potatoes to go with it too.