Just fifteen minutes under the broiler produces a dish worthy of linen tablecloths.

Photo l Michael Persico

A quickly roasted (under the broiler) leg of lamb is a frequent dinner at my boyfriend’s parents house.  His mom is Lebanese, and she uses a variety of spices and flavor combinations in her cooking that are unfamiliar but wonderfully satisfying.  Here, a boneless leg of lamb is rubbed with salt, garlic and Syrian brown pepper blend called da’a, which can be found at Bitar’s Market.  Da’a is a blend of allspice, black and white pepper, nutmeg, cloves and ginger; it plays nicely with the gamey flavor of lamb. 

Once the sinew and fat is cut away from this inexpensive piece of meat, it rests in a marinade of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and seasoning.  A fast broil six inches from the heat source produces meat that is nicely crisped on the outside and a melting medium-rare inside.  Serve with simply roasted potatoes and eggplant and a green salad.  The roasting pan will collect natural jus from the lamb, you can reduce this into a thicker sauce if you’re feeling fancy.  Otherwise, just use a spoon to apply some jus to your dish, and dinner is served.

Look for Syrian Pepper (da’a) at Bitar’s Market, 947 Federal St., 215-755-1121

                       Quick-Roasted Leg of Lamb with Syrian Pepper

Serves five

Go Get This:

5 lb. boneless leg of lamb

7-10 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced thin

Syrian pepper (Da’a)

Salt

1/3 cup Extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar

Now Do This:

Unroll the leg of lamb.  Assemble a sharp chef’s knife and paring knife near to hand.  Using both knives, cut away all of the fat and sinew from the leg.  Be patient; this takes a little while.  Leave enough of the fascia that holds the muscles together so the roast does not fall apart. 

With the paring knife, cut about ten small slits  in one side of the roast.  Insert the sliced garlic into each slit.  Season the leg generously with salt and da’a.  Pour over extra-virgin olive oil to coat, then a smaller amount of balsamic vinegar.  Rub the seasonings and liquids all over the leg.  Turn the leg over and repeat on the other side with just garlic, salt and da’a.  Rub marinade in thoroughly.

Cover with foil or plastic wrap and rest in refrigerator for two hours, then turn the leg over, rubbing marinade in again.  Rest at least one more hour in the fridge, or overnight.

Preheat oven to Broil.  Place flattened, uncovered leg of lamb in broiler, no less than six inches from the heat source, for fifteen minutes, flipping over halfway through, until thickest section of leg is medium-rare.   Serve hot or room temperature with jus spooned over. 

OR

Preheat a gas grill to low.  Spread the leg out to make it as flat as possible, and grill until medium-rare, turning once.  Thicker sections can be butterflied to make the leg approximately the same thickness throughout.

SUPPER: Quick-Roast Leg of Lamb

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Recipes, SUPPER. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.