Lamb is one of my favorite foods, and I have my mom to thank for that. She didn’t make it very often, so I really looked forward to it. She also didn’t make lamb chops. It was a leg of lamb or nothing. I normally make chops and the occasional rack of lamb, but I’ve never made a leg of lamb. I suppose it’s because I’ve never had a big enough group who liked lamb, but why should I let that stop me?
The ultimate Mediterranean-style leg of lamb recipe! Leg of lamb covered in a rub of fresh garlic, Mediterranean spices, olive oil, and lemon juice. Roasted with potato wedges and onions.
The Ingredients
Nothing on the list was difficult to find, but the lamb was pricey because of the quantity. I’m used to buying 2 lamb chops at a time, so I had some sticker shock. I found a 4.72-pound leg for $8.49 per pound. It came out to $40.07 and must be the most I’ve ever spent on one piece of meat. I would have hyperventilated if I hadn’t noticed that filet mignon is $19.99 per pound. It made my leg of lamb look like a bargain!
The Process
This isn’t a quick dish, but it wasn’t too difficult. It took a total of 2 hours and 11 minutes from prep to table. The 1 hour prep time is mainly inactive — just waiting for the lamb to come up to room temperature. I spent about 20 minutes actively prepping at the same time. That included peeling, slicing, making the rub, and trimming the lamb.
Trimming the lamb was new, so I hit up YouTube for a lamb trimming demo. In a nutshell, it’s just removing the white membrane that covers the meat, much as you do with the silver skin on pork tenderloin. It wasn’t difficult at all, and I had my leg of lamb trimmed in under 7 minutes using a freshly sharpened paring knife.
I took the author’s advice and served my lamb over a bed of Lebanese Rice with Vermicelli. It’s a lot of carbs, but wow! Was it delicious!
