Main Lunch

Garlic & Rosemary Leg of Lamb with Lemony Roasted Vegetables

Add sparkle to your Sunday lunch with this glorious roasted leg of lamb from Flora Shedden. Packed with flavour from the garlic, rosemary and lemon juice, the lamb is served with a big pile of vibrant roasted vegetables and a lip-smacking lamb gravy.

20 minutes, plus overnight chilling prep, 2 hours, 15 minutes cook

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb, about 2 kg

2 garlic bulbs

Large bunch of rosemary

1 lemon, quartered

4 banana shallots, quartered

Olive or rapeseed oil

200g potatoes

2 red onions

200g parsnips

200g celeriac

200g carrots (preferably coloured)

200ml lamb or vegetable stock

200ml red wine

1 large leek, roughly chopped

100g French beans, trimmed

200g frozen peas

Small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Prepare the lamb the night before cooking. Put the leg of lamb into a roasting tray, then make lots of small slits across the surface using a sharp knife. Peel the cloves of one of the garlic bulbs and slice them roughly.

Stick a slice of garlic into each cut. Break off pieces of rosemary from one third of the sprigs and also stick these into the cuts. Cover the lamb with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/ Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Remove the clingfilm from the lamb. Add the remaining rosemary sprigs to the roasting tray. Halve the rest of the garlic bulb horizontally and add it to the tray. Squeeze the juice from the lemon quarters over the lamb, then add the squeezed- out pieces of rind to the tray, too. Arrange the quartered shallots around the meat. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of oil over the lamb and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 11⁄2 hours.

Remove the tray from the oven (leave the oven switched on), cover the lamb with kitchen foil and then a few tea towels and leave it to rest for at least 30 minutes, although 1 hour is best.

While the meat is resting, prepare the vegetables. Peel then cut the potatoes, onions, parsnips, celeriac and carrots so they are chopped into pieces of roughly the same size. Place the chopped veggies in a roasting tray, drizzle in about 2 tablespoons of oil, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat the vegetables in the oil. Roast for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are almost cooked.

Meanwhile, make the gravy. Drain off the lamb juices from the roasting tray and strain them into a saucepan. Add the stock and wine. Bring the mixture to the boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced by roughly half and has thickened slightly.

Remove the roasting tray with the veggies from the oven once the veggies are nearly cooked, stir in the chopped leek and the French beans so that they get a good coating of oil and roast for a further 10 minutes.

Bring a kettle of water to the boil. Place the peas in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to stand for 2 minutes, then drain. Put the peas into a bowl and stir through the chopped mint. Place all the vegetables on a big platter. Arrange the lamb and shallots on top. Carve the meat and serve with the gravy.