The Sunday Roast · Wales border / England-wide

Roast Leg of Lamb with Mint Sauce

Name: Roast Leg of Lamb with Mint Sauce
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 35 min
Total time: 1 h 55 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 2kg leg of lamb; 4 garlic cloves, sliced; Few sprigs rosemary; 2 tbsp olive oil; For the mint sauce: large bunch mint, 2 tbsp caster sugar, 4 tbsp white wine vinegar, 4 tbsp boiling water; 500ml lamb or chicken stock and 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly for the gravy; Roast potatoes and spring vegetables, to serve

Studded with garlic and rosemary, roasted to a blush, and cut with sharp, sweet home-made mint sauce — Easter’s essential centrepiece.

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 95 min
Total: 115 min
Yield: Serves 6
Difficulty: Moderate
Era: Victorian

Ingredients

2kg leg of lamb
4 garlic cloves, sliced
Few sprigs rosemary
2 tbsp olive oil
For the mint sauce: large bunch mint, 2 tbsp caster sugar, 4 tbsp white wine vinegar, 4 tbsp boiling water
500ml lamb or chicken stock and 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly for the gravy
Roast potatoes and spring vegetables, to serve

Method

Oven200°C400°FFan 180°CGas 6

Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F (fan 180°C, gas 6).
Stab the lamb all over and push slivers of garlic and rosemary into the slits. Rub with oil, salt and pepper.
Roast 20 minutes at 200°C / 400°F, then reduce to 180°C / 350°F (fan 160°C, gas 4) and cook 20 minutes per 500g for pink, 25 for well done.
While it roasts, chop the mint finely, dissolve the sugar in the vinegar and boiling water, and combine. Rest 30 minutes.
Rest the lamb under foil for 20 minutes. Deglaze the tin with the stock and redcurrant jelly for the gravy.
Carve against the grain and serve with the mint sauce at the table, never in the kitchen.

Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.