Roast leg of lamb, roast potatoes and root vegetables

The UK supermarkets offer modestly priced New Zealand lamb all year round. I remember years ago I read in an article where it says the cost of rearing sheep in New Zealand, slaughtering them then shipping them half way across the world to the UK, cost less than the sheep rearing in the UK.

Not trying to justify cooking up those sweet, innocent looking little lamb at all.

The new season of British spring lamb has arrived since May, which I personally feel the meat needs little seasoning. Just some crushed garlic, salt and and a little bit of herbs will do. 

Roast dinner is one of my favourite meal. It is so versatile that I can eat it all year around with different type of roast meat and trimmings according to the season. A classic roast dinner consist of your choice of roast meat; roast potatoes; vegetables and gravy. The steps below will guide you to make each of these components of a great roast dinner and believe me, it is worth the effort!

Serves 4

1.5kg shoulder of British lamb

2 coves of garlic

1 bunch of fresh basil leaves

2 tbsp of rapeseed oil

Pinch of sea salt

50g of pine nuts 

2 carrots

2 parsnips

3 potatoes

500ml of lamb stock

Small glass of white wine

4 tsp of gravy powder 

1. Remove the lamb from the fridge before cooking. Best to leave it to come up to room temperature. 
2. Preheat the oven to 200. Splash some rapeseed oil into a baking try and place in the oven.
3. Put the garlic, basil leaves, rapeseed oil and pine nuts into a mini chopper and blitzed into a paste.
4. Prepare the root vegetables by peeling and cutting them into manageable sizes but not too small. Otherwise they will disintegrate during roasting.
5. Peeled the potatoes and quartered them. Boil the spuds for 20 minutes, stick a knife through to see if it is soft in the middle. 
6. Take the spuds off the heat, drained well. 
7. For well roasted and fluffy potatoes: put the spuds back into the saucepan, cover it with the lid (or use a plate if there isn't a lid). Give it a good shake! 
8. Take the preheated baking tray out and place the boiled spuds carefully into the tray. Make sure the hot oil doesn't splash everywhere. 
9. Place the potatoes into the oven. Check on them periodically and turn them over every 15 minutes or so.
10. Back to the lamb. Place the lamb in a roasting tin. Score the meat with a knife and massage the basil paste all over the lamb and press the paste into the slashes. 
11. Arrange the root vegetables into the same roasting tin as the lamb and place into the oven.
12. The cooking time is dependent on its weight and your preference on rarity. I always prefer mine slightly pink in the middle.
13. Roast the lamb for 30 minutes then turn the oven down to 180°C and roast for a further 30 minutes. 
14. Remove the lamb from the oven and wrap it with foil. Allow it to rest whilst you're preparing all the trimmings. 
15. If the root vegetables are looking well roasted and golden, take them out and wrap them in foil too. 
16. Pour the lamb juice from the roasting tin into a saucepan. Put it over a medium heat. 
17. Pour in the white wine, turn the heat up and bring the liquid to boil.
18. Add in the gravy powder and gradually pour in the stock. Stir well. If it is too runny, thicken it with some cornflour and cold water mix. Season with salt and pepper if desire.
19. Check on the potatoes to see if they are done. 
20. Carve the meat. Dish up the potatoes and vegetables. 

Now sit back and enjoy the hard work!