“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces — just good food from fresh ingredients.” – Julia Child
Roast lamb is a family favourite here at the farm. I love cooking roasts, because there is always enough to feed a crowd, or enough for Ben and I to enjoy a delicious dinner and then to have cold meat and vegetables left over for easy meals in the coming days.
With a long weekend coming up, you might like to try this recipe too. It has a fantastic flavour and delivers a moist, succulent roast filled with flavour.
Note – If peaches aren’t in season where you are, you can substitute extra apples instead.
Ingredients:
1 leg of lamb, 500ml of rosé wine, 8 to ten cloves of garlic, 4 large peaches, 2 large apples, dried oregano, runny honey, salt and pepper
Method:
Preheat your oven to hot – 220 degrees celcius or 440 degrees fahrenheit. (If your oven is fan forced drop the temperature by 10 degrees.)
Halve the peaches, and cut the apples into quarters, removing the core.
Peel the garlic cloves, and slice fatter ones into two, cutting longwise to make the pieces long and thinner.
Using a sharp knife with a long thin blade make insertions into the lamb and then use your finger to push one or two garlic pieces into the meat. Aim for a good coverage, and feel free to turn the roast over and add a little extra to the underside of the meat.
Place the meat into a deep roasting pan and surround it with the fruit, cut side up. Season the lamb with a sprinkle of dried oregano, and a good grind of salt and pepper.
Then pour the rosé wine into the pan.
To calculate cooking time allow twenty to thirty minutes for each 500gm of meat. USe a shorter time if you prefer your lamb on the rarer side, or longer if you like your meat well done. I have opted to cook my roast to well done (no pink left) as it is the preferred doneness for my main eater!
Place roast into the hot oven and cook at this high temperature for twenty minutes.
After twenty minutes remove roast from oven, baste with the juices from the pan, and then turn the joint of meat over.
Drizzle the meat with a tablespoon or two of honey
Return to the oven and lower the temperature to 180 degree oven – 350 degrees fahrenheit. (If your oven is fan forced drop the temperature by 10 degrees.)
Roast meat for another thirty minutes.
After thirty minutes turn the roast over again, basting well, and turn the fruit upside down in the pan.
Return to the oven for the remainder of the cooking time.
When cooking time is finished, remove meat from oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for ten minutes before serving. This allows the juices to go back into the meat, making it succulent and tender, and you won’t end up with a sea of fluid on your cutting board.
Serve your roast with your favourite sides. We used baked potato and sweet potato, and a salad.
Make sure that everyone gets a little of the pan juice and some of the cooked fruit.
Delicious!
