Roast Lamb & Asparagus; Spring is truely here!

Spring is definitely here, the weather is a testament to that, 20 degrees one day and 5 the next.  But the up side is that lamb is on the menu again and so is asparagus.  

The specials this week are very springy, avocados, NZ tomatoes, free farmed ham, lettuces, whole lamb legs, fat cap on lamb rumps and free range thigh.

Each week I have a chat about the specials and what you can do with them.  Now sometimes I am organised and most of the time I talk completely off the cuff.

I love a good roast lamb and there's certainly many flavours you can infuse into a lamb.  This weekend Im going to roast a lamb leg nice and slowly, in red wine, rosemary and garlic.  Slather it with pomegranate molasses for the final hour and have it over a couple of days, first as a roast and monday night pulled into a couscous salad.

I love shopping the specials, it makes a  lot of sense economically and we all know that nature serves us up nutrients in abundance in seasonal fruit and vegetables.  You should look up what asparagus can do for you.

Here's how I cook my lamb -

What you need

Heat oven to 200 deg

1 Lamb Leg

A couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary

300 mls of red wine

4 – 5 peeled cloves of garlic

Pomegranate Molasses

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make 7 or 8 small slits in your lamb leg with a sharp knife

Place bits of rosemary in each hole

Slather the lamb with olive oil and salt and black pepper

Place in a lidded heavy ovenproof casserole

Pour in the red wine

Put lid on and place in the oven

After 20 mins turn oven down to 140 degs

Leave for 3 hours

In that time prepare kumara (for roasting in the dish with the lamb) and potatoes (I like mine parboiled for 5 mins then shaken around in the pot to make fluffy crispy roasted potatoes – agria are the best – I roast them separate for the lamb)

And any other vegetables you are going to have.

After 3 hours remove lamb from the oven, turn the oven down to 180 (put it on fan bake if you need to cook on other levels in your oven)

Remove the rosemary from the lamb leaving the lamb in the pan

Slather on the lamb as much or as little pomegranate molasses as you like.

Add the kumara to the pan, put the other vege in the oven (I will roast a few carrots to use for Monday’s cous cous salad) and return the lamb and kumara to the oven for an hour.  A little longer if you want it to brown up a little more.

Serve with greens of your choice, but hey asparagus is on special this week so go for it while it is here.

That’s Sunday night, Monday night Ill use the left over lamb & kumara shredded through a cous cous salad with asparagus, mint and parsley.

Have a great week everyone.