Ingredients

CupsMetric

• 2.75 – 3 kg / 5.5 – 6 lb lamb leg , bone-in (Note 1)
• 1 1/2 tsp cooking salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Rub

• 1 1/2 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves , finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves , finely minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Base

• 2 whole heads of garlic , halved horizontally (Note 2)
• Few sprigs rosemary (optional)

Gravy

• 4 tbsp flour , plain/all purpose
• 2 1/2 cups beef broth / stock , low sodium (Note 3)

Instructions

• Take lamb out of fridge at least 1 hour before roasting. (Note 4)
• Preheat oven to 240°C/475°F (220°C fan) with oven shelf in the middle.
• Rub – Mix rosemary, garlic and olive oil.
• Prepare lamb – Place lamb leg in a roasting pan. Coat with the rub using your hands, the sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Place garlic and rosemary sprigs underneath the lamb, garlic cut face up.
• Roast lamb leg for 20 minutes. Turn the oven down to 200°C/400°F (180°C fan) and roast for a further 1 hour or until the internal temperature reaches 53°C/127°F for medium rare (Note 5 other doneness). Check first at 45 minutes – everyone’s oven is different!
• Rest – Remove lamb from oven. Transfer lamb to plate, loosely cover with foil and rest for 20 minutes to 1 hour (it will still be warm enough for serving!). The internal temperature will rise to 62°C/144°F (medium rare). Make gravy while lamb is resting – below.
• Serve lamb with gravy, duck fat or classic crunchy roast potatoes, peas and steamed carrots tossed with butter and parsley.

Gravy for roast lamb leg

• Drippings in pan – Discard rosemary sprigs. You should have around 4 – 5 tbsp of fat (drippings). If less, add butter. If much more, discard a bit.
• Add flour – Place roasting pan on stove over medium heat. When the fat starts to bubble, then add flour. Mix flour in and cook for 1 minute.
• Stock – Pour in half the beef stock and mix to dissolve sludge in, then add remaining beef stock and mix.
• Garlic squidging – Use a potato masher (if you’re really keen like me) to mush the garlic to squeeze out the flavour (also helps flour caught in garlic to dissolve).
• Taste – Check salt and pepper (I don’t add more).
• Thicken – Simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring, until it starts to thicken. Take it off the stove BEFORE the gravy is the thickness you want because it will keep thickening.
• Strain into a bowl, mushing garlic to squeeze all the liquid out. Then pour into gravy jug and serve with lamb!