Roast Lamb
- Total Time
- About 3 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:8 to 12 servings
- 1large lamb roast with a cap of fat, 4 to 6 pounds: bone-in leg (these can be as large as 8 pounds), semiboneless leg, bone-in shoulder, boneless butterflied leg or double loin
- 2ounces (1 can) anchovies packed in olive oil, drained, or 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- Leaves from 6 fresh rosemary sprigs (2 heaping tablespoons leaves), plus extra sprigs and branches for garnish
- 6garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- 4ounces unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- Black pepper
- 1lemon, cut in half
- 1¾cups white wine, plus extra for gravy
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)
1049 calories; 107 grams fat; 56 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 42 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 11 grams protein; 259 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Use a small sharp knife to make about a dozen incisions, each about 2 inches deep, through the fat that covers the top of the meat. Using a mortar and pestle or a blender, blend ⅔ of the anchovies (or ⅔ of the mustard if using), the rosemary leaves and the garlic cloves into a chunky paste. Using your fingers, press paste deeply into incisions.
- Step 2
Mix remaining anchovies (or mustard) and the butter into a paste. Smear this mixture all over the surface of the roast. Season liberally with black pepper. (Do not add salt; the anchovies are salty enough, and so is the mustard.) Place the lamb on a rack in a roasting pan, fat side up, and squeeze the lemon halves over. Pour the wine around the roast into the pan.
- Step 3
Roast 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and roast until internal temperature reaches 130 to 135 degrees (for medium-rare or medium meat), about another 60 to 90 minutes. Baste every 20 minutes or so with the wine and drippings in the pan, adding more wine as needed to keep the liquid from scorching. If possible, for the last 15 minutes of cooking, use convection or a broiler to crisp the fat on the roast.
- Step 4
Remove pan from the oven, remove rack from the pan, and let the roast rest on the rack for at least 15 to 20 minutes in a warm place, tented with foil. The internal temperature will rise to about 140 to 145 degrees.
- Step 5
To make sauce from the pan drippings, remove a few tablespoons of fat by tipping the pan and spooning off the top layer. Put the pan over medium heat until the liquid simmers. Taste the simmering liquid and whisk in more wine, ¼ cup at a time, until the consistency and flavor are right. Do not let the mixture become syrupy; it should be a sharp jus, not a thick gravy.
- Step 6
Carve lamb into ½-inch-thick slices and arrange on a heated platter, decorated with rosemary sprigs. Serve with piping hot gravy.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Betsy
I would like to use a boneless leg of lamb. How does this affect the cooking time and the flavor?
Chris S.
Have cooked roast lamb dozens of times, but this by far the best. DO NOT OMIT ANCHOVY or lemon! Can't taste once cooked, but silent contribution to meat's richness is irreplaceable. We cheated badly because we were lazy, but it was still superb: 1) crushed dried rosemary; 2) olive oil for butter; 3) good commercial anchovy paste for anchovies; 4) good dry sherry diluted with water 50/50 for wine; 5) potatoes/onions/carrots roasted in pan along with lamb for 1-pot meal. Totally tremendous!
John Lucak
A word to the wise: I opened the oven door 10 minutes into cooking. Lost my eyebrows and some of my hair to the fireball that erupted. The alcohol from the wine evaporates quickly and builds up in the oven.
mdurphy
Add lemon zest to the anchovy/garlic/rosemary paste; definitely use olive oil instead of butter, it's lighter and truer to the lamb flavors.
Del
Did this one strictly by the recipe--used an unsalted/cultured butter. Wine was some leftover Chard. We have a really big granite mortar and pestle which worked well--smaller would have been messy, I think. I don't go by meat thermometers--you wind up overcooking. 20'/lb seems to work. The result was a leg of lamb good enough for G_d . . . .
hermsoven
Used 4 pounds of boneless leg. Used a chopstick to push the flavorings into the incisions. Used both mustard and anchovies. Placed potato halves around the roast with about 45 minutes to go. Basted the lamb and the potatoes several times, removed lamb to the cutting board to rest, allowing the potato skins to crisp at 425°F. Lamb done medium at 75 minutes.
Served with a mixed green salad, a homemade baguette, and a glass of Bogle Essential Red. Interesting grapefruit from Israel for dessert.
MTS
Q from a novice:
Why not slow-roast, instead of roasting at 425, then 350 when you're not trying to get a crispy skin? More generally, what's the advantage of roasting over slow-cooking?
Rebecca
I've eaten and cooked a lot of leg and lamb in my life but never heard of a "leg gland." Can somebody explain this to me?
Elizabeth Hennessey
All I can say is excellent. I was so blown away at the jus, I saved it in a jar in the fridge and dipped very good crusty bread in it, warmed up. As a cooks treat. Outstanding. I will also say that the more humble the anchovies, the better, I found. I used a very upmarket, organic white anchovy to start with and was underwhelmed, inparticular with the anchovy butter, it didn't smell of anything. When I made it again with simple grocery store oil packed in a jar, I was much more impressed!
Lukas
Can I leave the lamb covered in the anchovy butter in the fridge overnight? Or would that make everything too salty?
Pat
I love cooking with anchovies and they really were magic, along with the butter, on the butterflied leg of lamb I made. The meat cooked more quickly than I expected but was absolutely juicy and tender with a wonderful crust. I know some of my family might have opted out of eating it had I told them about the use of anchovies...so I waited until they all raved. Some of the expressions were priceless! Proof that one should really consider take a taste of something new before pooh-poohing it!
draya3
The latest issue of Milk Street has a little tidbit about an exploding oven due to that exact thing! They recommend starting "the dish on the stovetop, at a very low simmer until the alcohol reduces by about three-quarters."
bobsutis
Butterflying the lamb and retying it around the bone allows you to remove silver skin and the gland in the shoulder that would otherwise leave an unpleasant taste. There is excellent videos on YouTube showing how to identify and remove the gland.
Julia Moskin
By all means, if you have room in your fridge. Remember to increase the cooking time if the roast will go straight from the fridge into the oven.
jae
Employed this as an overnight marinade, using both Dijon and anchovies. Eschewed butter and white wine as my Cretan take on lamb precludes them; but lotsa good hearty red and Cretan private stock olive oil. Added much fresh basil and flat leaf parsley to this glorious slush and slathered it on.
Brought my butterflied lamb to room temp and roasted unrolled at 500F for fifteen minutes and about 15 minutes at 350F.
Perfection. Adore this slush......
Cassandra
smelled fabulous while cooking. The jus was awful: quite bitter. Did we do something wrong?
Fabio Ospino
This is a very easy recipe. Used a little bit of flour to tick the gravy and extra lemon.
amber h
Can you use lamb blade chops for this recipe? It’s all my butcher has and wondering how it would need to be altered. Thanks!
Shirley Vermace, Decorah IA
After making the gravy, I poured it over the lamb roast in a covered dutch oven, added fresh spring rosemary, cut up chunks of yukon gold potatoes and chunks of carrots, cooked covered at 300 for one more hour or until veggies are tender. I had a 3-4 pound lamb roast, so used only half the butter/anchovy paste on outside of roast. I used quite a bit of the white wine during roasting stage. I also added 1/2 stick butter to make more of the gravy from pan drippings and more wine.
Bhdiamond
Cooked faster on convection roast setting - 60 min for 5.5 lb boneless roast. Added chicken broth to reduced drippings. Used both mustard & anchovies although less mustard than recipe calls for.
Janine
I really liked this recipe. I did make one change because I knew we would have a lot of leftovers to be used in other dishes, most likely curries. I thought rosemary would not be compatible with some things I might want to make, so I omitted the rosemary and added a packed teaspoon of lemon zest to the paste in the inserted into the cuts.
MaryAnn
I want to try this recipe but after reading the comments about a fire in the oven, I'm a little hestiant to try it. Has this happen to many of you? Please let me know. The thought of fire coming out of my oven is scary to me.
Kate
I wonder if the people who experienced that have gas ovens? I think the alcohol has less of a change of igniting in an electric oven...
julia
This was perfect. Thank you!
Me
The best leg of lamb I ever made. Do not skip any ingredients. The au Jus jus is sharp like a cheddar cheese sharp. I enjoyed the au jus as well. Thank you.
Jen in Astoria
Made as directed with a 10 lb Greek leg of lamb--full leg and half the pelvis. Used baby potatoes for instead of rack. Tip: Baste and don't skimp on wine in the pan. Delicious.
Shelina
Fabulous! I used double the amount of anchovies.
Judith Falk
Thanks for recommending American-raised lamb--I raise Dorper sheep and they produce the best lamb ever!
boognish
Definitely a winner for my 2.5 lb lamb roast.
Sarah
This is probably the best meal I've ever cooked. I used anchovies in glass in olive oil. I used pinot noir rose. I'm so very pleased with this meal and I can't wait to cook it for a crowd sometime in the future. I put cubed potatoes and carrots in the roasting pan towards the end for a 1 pot meal. Note: Watch your eyes when opening to baste. The alcoholic steam blast was painful.
Foodislife
Yup! This is a winner! I used both the Dijon and anchovy paste. Very flavorful in a subtle way. My husband loved it and had no idea anchovies were a part of this dish.
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