Greek Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb Recipe

That is how the Greeks make roast lamb – cooked till tender, half braised in a garlic lemon flavoured liquid that transforms right into a luscious sauce – no mucking round with gravy!  This Greek Sluggish Roasted Leg of Lamb takes hours and hours to roast, however it’s EASY, just about foolproof and really palms off. A good centrepiece for Easter, Sunday Roast or some other event for feasting!!

After extra concepts? Browse all my roast lamb recipes!

Fork-tender, genuine Greek Sluggish Roast Leg of Lamb

All world wide this weekend, there will probably be gatherings of household and pals to have a good time Easter. I used to be fairly to study that ham is highly regarded in America. Right here in Australia, it’s all about roast lamb and seafood.

I like roast lamb! I’ve shared fairly just a few of them – from a basic Roast Lamb Leg, to a Sluggish Roast Leg of Lamb (collapse tender!), Sluggish Cooked Lamb Shoulder and even a Sluggish Cooker Roast Lamb.

However this one I’m sharing as we speak is not only one other lamb roast. It’s a Greek one. Rubbed with a easy spice combine, gradual cooked till tender, half braised so it sucks up all of the yummy lemony garlicky herby flavours.

No carving knife required. See?

Aussies love their lamb. In my household, Sunday Night time Roast Dinners are an event that triggers fiery correspondence between us children as we debate the menu. You possibly can learn one such dialogue on this Sluggish Roasted Rosemary Garlic Lamb Shoulder, together with my self proclaimed household title as Roast Queen.

The factor with roasting a leg of lamb is that until (and even when) you might have a meat thermometer, it’s really fairly arduous to prepare dinner the roast completely so it’s blushing pink on the within, moist and juicy. It could take simply 20 minutes for a leg of lamb to go from good to dry.

It could even overcook whereas resting. Really. Been there, accomplished that – chopping into the lamb straight out of the oven to take a peek, grinning smugly after I spied pink, set it apart to relaxation for half-hour, then after I carved it, there was not a touch of pink left.

I used to be briefly dethroned as Roast Queen when that occurred. I’d wish to say I stepped down like sport, however no, I used to be overthrown 😤. I’m taking again the title for this Greek lamb although!!

Flavour, flavour, flavour, juicy, juicy, juicy, straightforward, straightforward, straightforward. That’s what this Greek Sluggish Roasted Leg of Lamb is all about. So long as you permit for ample cooking time, it’s actually arduous to go unsuitable with this.

In true Greek type, this lamb is full of further flavour by stuffing bits of garlic into incisions made everywhere in the lamb, then it’s rubbed with paprika and garlic powder. Add a easy braising liquid to maintain it fantastically moist and to infuse it with much more flavour, then prepare dinner it lengthy and gradual.

Oh! The opposite benefit of this Greek Sluggish Roasted Leg of Lamb? NO MUCKING AROUND TO MAKE GRAVY! The braising liquid reduces all the way down to an intensely flavoured sauce that must be generously poured everywhere in the lamb. That is how it’s alleged to be. And I’m not complaining!!!

This lamb does take hours to roast. Hours upon hours. 7 hours for a 3.5kg/7lb leg of lamb, to be exact. Nevertheless it’s palms off, low upkeep time.

And on the finish of it, have a look at what you get!! Now THIS is a step up from the standard Sunday evening roast!

Greek Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb Recipe

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Serves: 8 Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 7 hours 7 hours

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 12 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 7 lb / 3.5 kg leg of lamb (Note 1)
• Salt and pepper
• 3 tsp paprika powder
• 3 tsp garlic powder (or sub with onion powder)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large onions, quartered (white, brown, yellow, red)
• 10 sprigs of thyme
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 3 tsp dried oregano
• 3 dried bayleaves (or 5 fresh)
• 1/2 cup / 125 ml lemon juice (2 – 3 lemons), plus more to taste
• 1 1/2 cups / 375 ml white wine (or sub with chicken broth/stock, low salt)
• 2 cups / 500 ml chicken broth (liquid chicken stock)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 240°C/465°F (220°C fan). (Note 2)
2. Use a small knife to make around 25 incisions all over the lamb, with most on the top.
3. Cut around 6 cloves into slivers and stuff them into the incisions.
4. Sprinkle the lamb generously all over with salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder. Drizzle with olive oil and rub all over the lamb.
5. Place the lamb in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes or until it has a nice brown crust.
6. Remove from the oven. Turn the oven down to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan).
7. Turn the lamb upside down. Pour / place all the remaining ingredients in the pan around the lamb (including remaining garlic cloves). Fill the roasting pan with hot water so it comes up about 1/4 – 1/3 of the way up the height of the lamb.
8. Cover with lid or with baking/parchment paper then 2 layers of foil. Bake for 3.5 hours. (Note 3) Top up water if it dries out (e.g. Might happen if your lid is loose)
9. Remove the roast from the oven and remove the lid/foil. Turn the lamb over so it is the right side up.
10. Cover again and roast for a further 2 1/2 hours, or until you can pull meat apart with forks.
11. Remove cover and roast for a further 20 – 30 minutes (to brown). (Note 3)
12. Remove from the oven and transfer lamb to serving platter. Cover loosely with foil and rest for 30 – 40 minutes.
13. Strain liquid into a clear jug. The fat will rise to the top. Scoop/pour most of it off – I get 3/4 – 1 cup. There should be 2 – 3 cups of Sauce left. Adjust salt, pepper and lemon to taste.
14. Serve lamb with the Sauce on the side and Truly Crunchy Roast Potatoes (heat oil while lamb is in the oven, then cook potatoes when the lamb is resting).

Notes

1. I used a full leg of lamb which is too long for most roasting trays. If you buy it from a supermarket, typically the shaft (bone) will be cut so it bends so it can fit into the pan. If you purchase it from a butcher, ask them to do this for you because you need the roast to fit flat in a roasting pan so it can lie submerged in the braising liquid.
2. Or as high as your oven goes if it can’t go this high.
3. TOTAL COOK TIME:
4. Adapted from this Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb by Kalofagas.