Tom Aikens’ illustrious career has included stints with both Pierre Koffmann and Joël Robuchon, and he is the youngest chef to have won two Michelin stars, during his five- year tenure at Pied à Terre. His new restaurant Muse is housed in an intimate 25-cover converted mews house in London, musebytomaikens.co.uk.
See more of Tom Aikens ’s recipes
Tom Aikens
Tom Aikens’ illustrious career has included stints with both Pierre Koffmann and Joël Robuchon, and he is the youngest chef to have won two Michelin stars, during his five- year tenure at Pied à Terre. His new restaurant Muse is housed in an intimate 25-cover converted mews house in London, musebytomaikens.co.uk.
See more of Tom Aikens ’s recipes
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Ingredients
1 large leg of lamb with bone in (about 2.5kg)
2 bulbs of garlic
a few sprigs of rosemary
100ml olive oil
1 tbsp flaky sea salt
3 onions, roughly chopped
5 carrots, sliced in half lengthways
500ml chicken stock - use gluten-free stock if required
2 tsp cornflour
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Make small incisions all over the lamb. Peel and halve 10 garlic cloves, then insert the garlic pieces into the incisions. Break off little pieces of rosemary and insert these into the remaining holes. Rub all over with a little of the oil and season with the sea salt.
Sit the lamb on a wire rack in a roasting tray and leave at room temperature for about 1 hour before roasting, so it will cook evenly.
Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Put the onions and carrots into the bottom of the roasting tray (under the lamb on its rack) with the rest of the olive oil, remaining unpeeled garlic cloves and a few rosemary sprigs. Brown the lamb in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Roast for a further 11⁄2 hours, or depending on how you like your lamb cooked. The best way to tell if the meat is cooked is by inserting a roasting fork into the centre of the meat, and then lightly place the fork onto your upper lip or your inner wrist. It should be a little hotter than your own body temperature. For well-done, you will need to roast it for around 21⁄2 hours. Remove the lamb from the oven and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the gravy. Spoon off the excess fat then place the roasting tray on the hob and colour the vegetables if they are not yet caramelised. Add the chicken stock, bring to a simmer, and season. Mix the cornflour with a little cold water, then whisk into the gravy and add any resting juices from the lamb. Simmer for a few minutes, pressing the vegetables into the stock to extract all of their flavour. Pass through a sieve into a pan and keep warm until you are ready to serve.
Serve with
Buttered peas with soft lettuce Basil pearl barley ‘risotto’
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For a medium cooked lamb, which is perfectly pink on the inside, budget about 25 minutes per pound or until the internal temp registers somewhere around 130°F (about 1 ½ to 2 hours in a 325 degrees F-heated oven).
For the perfect roast lamb, we recommend seasoning the surface of the meat, and then searing it, especially fat side down in a pan before roasting. Why bother with searing? Contrary to some stories, searing is less about locking in moisture, and all about improving the flavour!
I've said it before and I'll say it again – lamb leg should either be roasted exactly such that it's blushing pink inside – either whole or butterflied – or long and slow so it's ultra tender.
Fresh rosemary, fresh garlic, lemon zest, black pepper, and salt are simple but amazing flavors that pair amazingly with the lamb! Each of these ingredients adds its unique warmth and depth to enhance the flavor of the dish.
Immediately putting this large cut of meat in the oven after removing it from the fridge can lead to uneven cooking and an even longer cooking time. To ensure a leg of lamb cooks evenly, remove it from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for an hour before cooking.
The leg of lamb should be roasted to either a medium rare blushing pink on the inside (with an internal temp around 125-130°F) or roasted at a lower temperature (about 325 degrees F ) for several hours until the meat is so tender it can be pulled off the bone with tongs (about 205 degrees F).
Baking soda / bi-carb and cornflour/cornstarch are the secret ingredients that tenderise the lamb meat. It's a technique called “velveting” that is used by Chinese restaurants, and it's the reason why the meat in your favourite Chinese dishes are always so soft.
It can be traditionally roasted but is best slow-roasted, pot-roasted or braised with liquid until practically falling apart. Shoulder can also be diced for stewing, or cut into shoulder chops. A pre-sliced roast is convenient, but it tends to dry out in the oven.
For lamb that oozes exquisite scrumptiousness you should baste your meat every 15 minutes while it is cooking in the oven. Basting is when you pour the juices and fat that have escaped from the meat back over the meat to keep it moist and add flavour.
It is different from the "leg of lamb," which comes from the rear leg, and is leaner and more tender. The shoulder has a higher fat content, is richer in flavor and is less expensive than the lamb leg. Because of the higher fat content, it is also more forgiving and stays juicier.
Place the lamb, fat side up, on a rack set in a roasting pan; spread garlic paste all over lamb. Roast in oven until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 135 degrees, for medium rare, about 2 hours.
The USDA recommends cooking lamb to 145°F, which will result in medium-well doneness. 1 This is the official guideline for safely cooking lamb, but many chefs and cooks prefer their lamb rarer.
Lamb should be roasted 20 mins per 450g/lb, plus an extra 20 mins. Weigh meat prior to roasting to determine cooking times. Cook at 220C/200C fan for the first 20 mins and then 190C/170C fan for the remaining time.
The lamb will need to cook for about 20 minutes per pound (2 hours for a 6-pound leg of lamb; 2 hours and 40 minutes for 8 pounds). An instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat, not touching the bone, should read 145 degrees when the lamb is medium-rare.
The level of doneness for lamb largely comes down to personal preference. Pull it out of the oven too soon and it may be too undercooked and unappetizing for your taste. When cooked for too long, this tender cut can be quick to dry out. A deeply browned crust won't cut it for figuring out whether your lamb is finished.
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Prep time: 40 mins
