Roast leg of lamb with potatoes

Lamb is popular around the world as a center piece for Easter Sunday festive lunches. Lamb is now at its best, try and get veld reared lamb if possible. For this simple Sicilian Easter dish, Cosciotto di Agnello con Patate, a leg of lamb is roasted over a bed of potatoes, a real no-fuss easy to prepare dish. What more do you need than roast lamb and potatoes, a nice big leafy salad and some crusty bread.

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2T  crushed red chilli flakes

2T  dried oregano

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3-4kg  leg of lamb, trimmed

8 large potatoes, peeled and quartered

1T olive oil

  1. Heat oven to 250°C.
  2. In a bowl, combine oil, chilli flakes, oregano, garlic, parsley, and salt and pepper to make a paste. Rub paste over surface of lamb.
  3. Toss the quartered potatoes in the 1T olive oil, and place in a large roasting pan.
  4. Set lamb on a rack over the roasting pan and place in oven. Roast for 15 minutes.
  5. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C and continue cooking- 10 minutes per 500g for pink, 15 minutes per 500g for medium to well done.  Baste the meat and toss the potatoes every 30 minutes.
  6. Let the lamb rest for 20 minutes, covered loosely by foil before carving. This gives the juices time to be re-absorbed  into the meat.  Let the potatoes continue to roast until crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Serves 4 to 6

Other lamb recipes on the Wickedfood Cooking School blog include:

Moroccan Slow Roasted Lamb

Roasted leg of lamb

Lamb Biryani

Click here for a selection of 50 different lamb recipes from  Savour magazine.

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