17-Jun-20: I don’t often cook the traditional lamb roast. I think mainly because my dear mother was such a wonderful roast cook and they were our staple Sunday lunch for so long, I don’t think I ever get them quite as good. Plus whilst not terribly hard to cook, they do take time.
Unfortunately, Mum is passed on now so can no longer return home for my fixes. So occasionally, we lash out and relive those wonderful Sunday lunches and have one. With Covid keeping us home all the time, it means there’s a bit more time to cook during the week, so here we go !
This Thursday’s dinner was traditional lamb roast, with gravy, roast and steamed veg.
I used a half leg of lamb. To prepare the lamb, I sliced up a couple of cloves of garlic and got a few sprigs of rosemary. With a sharp knife, make small slits across the whole leg and squeeze a slither of garlic and little bit of rosemary into the slits. Oil the leg once finished and place on am oiled roasting dish. Then cook according to weight – I just look up the standard cooking times for lamb leg by weight. We like ours a bit pink so go the rare-medium option.
Pop in a pre-heated oven and let it cook away…
I usually allow about an hour for the spuds and pumpkin to cook. And of course the green veg is just steamed in the microwave. I wont provide directions here for those things – fairly straight forward and lots of sources that can guide if you need.
Once the lamb is done, take out of the roasting dish and let rest somewhere warm, covered in foil. I usually rest for a good half an hr at least.
For the gravy, have hot water ready. This is made using the pan juices and the roasting pan on top of the stove. The volumes are a guide – if you want more gravy, use more pan juices, flour and water…
Leave about 1/2 cup or so of the roasting juices in the pan. Have about half a cup of plain flour (maybe a bit more on standby in case you need it, as you don’t have to use it all) and slowly add to the simmering pan juices to make a wet “roux”, letting it cook just a little. It shouldn’t be too dry, so you may not need all the flour. It should have the consistency of a thick paste.
Gradually add the hot water, stirring constantly to avoid the lumps. If it does go a bit lumpy, just take off the heat and stir the “bejeezus” out of it 😂😂😂. If that doesn’t work, there’s always a sieve !
Happy Thursday Night Soul Food Moment – reliving fond memories past…
