23 hours Ago By Karen Rockett
Lamb is the most popular choice when it comes to Easter Sunday lunch but it is not always easy to get it right. However, chef Jamie Oliver has shared his 'perfect roast leg of lamb recipe with a secret and unexpected twist. His roast leg of lamb recipe uses anchovies as a secret and surprisingly tasty ingredient.
Along with the more traditional rosemary and garlic, anchovies give the meat a unique flavour and he says you will totally love it. On his website the much-loved chef wrote: “A perfectly roasted leg of lamb is a beautiful thing and here I want to guide you through the preparing, roasting and resting of this incredible joint of meat that will guarantee juiciness and flavour. “There are many ways to flavour roast lamb, but I’m going old-school with garlic and rosemary, which I love.
Trust me on the anchovies, it really works.” The anchovies all but disintegrate in the cooking process, but their intense salty taste impregnates the meat, drawing out the brilliant flavours of the lamb. It works in much the same way as garlic sits neatly with lamb.
In this case you hardly know the flavour comes from a fish at all. Anchovies, the little silver, salty fishes, have lots of umami flavour so they boost the meatiness of the roast. They also work well with roast beef too.
The ingredients for Jamie's roast leg of lamb are: Two sticks of celery, two carrots, two onions, two bay leaves, one large leg of higher-welfare lamb (2.4kg), olive oil, half a bunch of fresh rosemary (15g), four cloves of garlic, red wine vinegar, and nine anchovy fillets. Method: Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark seven.
Roughly chop the celery, carrots and onions, throwing into a large roasting tray as you go, with the bay leaves. With a sharp, pointed knife, follow the lamb bone down about 10cm to 12cm (you are just making a ‘tunnel’ where you are cutting the meat away from the bone). Do this from the top end and the bottom end.
Pierce the skin at an angle with a sharp pointed knife six or eight times at random around the leg, then open up the incisions by poking your fingers down them to make a bit of space. Rub the lamb all over with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. Strip the leaves off the rosemary sprigs and peel and finely slice the garlic, then toss in a little drizzle of olive oil and a splash of red wine vinegar.
Push a little rosemary, a couple of slices of garlic and an anchovy fillet into each hole, adding any leftovers and a good splash of water to the trivet tray with the veg. Place the lamb directly on the bars of the middle shelf of the oven, and place the tray on the shelf beneath. Turn the oven down to 180°C/350°F/gas mark four and cook to your liking.
For medium cooked lamb, Jamie recommended cooking for an hour and 10 minutes with 30 minutes resting. You want an internal temperature of 62°C. For medium to well done, cook for an hour and 20 minutes with 30 minutes resting.
The leg serves eight to ten people and cooks in two hours and 20 minutes..
