Simple baking is a traditional way of cooking lamb leg in the oven, but when it is slowly fried with hot garlic, parsley and bacon stuffing and served with good sauce, it becomes a work of high cuisine.
This dish is very tasty, served hot, but it can also be used cold for sandwiches and lunch with you. Therefore, it is recommended to cook a large leg, which is enough for several meals.
For a recipe for stuffed lamb legs you will need:
- 1.2 kg (half) of a mutton leg without bones (or 1.5 kg with bone);
- a large handful of leaf parsley (coarsely chopped);
- 3 large garlic cloves (finely chopped);
- 70 grams of ham or bacon (cubes);
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil;
- sea salt and black pepper;
- 150 ml of red wine (good quality);
- 100 ml of broth;
- 2 teaspoons of teaspoon cold butter (cut into tiny pieces).
How to do it?
Stuffed lamb leg, baked in the oven, is prepared like this. Preheat oven to 170 ° C. Remove the veins from the lamb leg, remove the skin, cut a cavity in a piece. If you bought meat with bone, you will need to cut down the side of the bone to create a place for the filling.
Spread parsley and garlic evenly over the surface of the leg, and then generously grease with olive oil, including the cut cavity. Put chopped bacon in it. Season well with salt and pepper. Fold the edges of the cut fragment and carefully fix it with kitchen thread.
Place the lamb leg in a large baking pan, cover with foil and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Then turn off the oven and leave the meat for 10 minutes. If you want the meat to be fried on top, add another 20 minutes of cooking without foil. In the same way, you can cook a lamb leg baked in the oven in the sleeve if you do not have foil.
Drain the fat and meat juice from the meat into a separate frying pan and place it on a stove over moderate heat. Pour the wine carefully and boil until a thick, viscous mass forms. Add the broth, mix well and heat slowly until the fluid volume is halved. Strain through a fine sieve into a small pan, put the butter and gently stir until completely dissolved. Try the sauce and adjust the seasonings.
Chop the meat and serve immediately with chopped herbs by pouring the sauce.
Lemon Juice Option
This Mediterranean recipe for baked lamb leg in the oven offers a unique dish. For him you will need:
- 2 kg of lamb leg;
- 2 tablespoons olive oil;
- 1/2 cup lemon juice;
- 2 garlic cloves, minced;
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves;
- 3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves;
- salt, seasoning.
For garnish:
- 1 large (300 grams) potato;
- 2 garlic cloves, minced;
- fresh thyme twigs;
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice;
- olive oil - 1/4 cup.
Mediterranean lamb
How to cook leg of lamb in the oven according to this recipe? Preheat the oven to 160 ° C. Place the lamb leg in a large baking pan. Pour in lemon oil and juice. Sprinkle with garlic, oregano and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Fry for 4 hours and 30 minutes (up to 5 hours) until the meat is soft and falls off the bone.
Remove the lamb leg from the oven. Cover tightly with foil. Leave to soak in juice for 10 minutes.
Serve this dish with fried halves of lemon and potatoes. To make such a side dish, heat a non-stick skillet over moderate heat. Prepare the halves of the lemon, squeeze the whole juice out of them, fry for 3 to 5 minutes until brown. Cool.
Put the potatoes in a pan, pour cold water. Bring to a boil in high heat. Cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool, cut into slices.
Using a large metal spoon, grind the potatoes through a fine sieve into a bowl. Stir in garlic, lemon juice and butter. Put on a plate with chopped lamb leg, garnish with thyme sprigs and serve.
Greek recipe
This meal option also applies to Mediterranean cuisine. To cook a leg of lamb, baked in the oven, according to this recipe, you will need:
- 2 kg of lamb leg;
- 1 tablespoon olive oil;
- 2 teaspoons of sea salt flakes;
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced;
- 12 oregano branches;
- 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) chicken broth;
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) of dry white wine;
- 2 red onions, quarters;
- 12 small potatoes, cut in half;
- 2 lemons, quarters;
- 1 cup (175 grams) of olives.
Cooking lamb leg in greek style
This recipe with a photo of a lamb leg in the oven is as follows. Preheat the oven to 180 ° C. Place the lamb leg in a large baking pan. Pour oil and sprinkle with salt. Use a small sharp knife to cut small cuts, about 2 cm deep, over the entire surface of the meat. Place pieces of garlic and sprigs of oregano in each hole.
Pour chicken broth and wine around the meat and cover with foil. Cook in a preheated oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, remove the foil and pour the ram leg with melted juice. Spread onion, potatoes, lemon and olives next to the meat. Cover with foil and fry for another hour.
You can also cook the lamb leg in the oven in the sleeve by placing the meat and vegetables in it at this stage. Remove the foil and fry for another 30 minutes, or until the lamb leg is golden brown and very tender. Remove from the oven. Cover with foil and set aside for 15 minutes to soak in juice.
Cut the meat and place it on serving plates with onions, potatoes and olives, and then pour meat juices. Serve immediately.
Lamb leg with garlic and rosemary
Juicy baked leg of lamb in the oven with fried vegetables turns out amazingly tasty. In this recipe, meat is only supplemented with garlic and butter. All that is added to it is a little salt, black pepper and freshly chopped rosemary.
It will take you about an hour to get the fried lamb leg in the oven, which you should then leave to stand for a while. Let the juices flow back into the meat, do not let them drain completely. Cut the lamb into thin slices and serve on the dish along with the fried root vegetables. Garnish with fresh rosemary and pour some meat sauce on a plate. You will need the following:
- 1 kg of lamb leg;
- 6 tablespoons of olive oil;
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped rosemary;
- sea salt and black pepper;
- 1 kg of a mixture of root crops (potatoes, celery, turnips and so on).
Cooking meat with rosemary
This recipe for a lamb leg in the oven is as follows. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Rub 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a piece of meat, top it with two tablespoons of chopped rosemary on top.
Wash and dry the vegetables by trimming their top and bottom. Cut into small pieces and transfer to a bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the vegetables along with the remaining 2 tablespoons of chopped rosemary. Season with salt and pepper and combine all the ingredients. Transfer prepared vegetables to a large baking sheet and place in one layer.
In a large frying pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil at high temperature. Carefully place the lamb leg in it and fry for 30 seconds on all sides. A crust should form on the meat. Then transfer it to a baking tray for vegetables and place in the oven. Roast the lamb leg in the oven for 1 hour. The photo attached to the article demonstrates how the finished dish should look.
Check the readiness of not only meat but also vegetables by sticking a knife in them. All components should be soft. If everything is ready, remove the pan from the oven and cover with aluminum foil. Let the meat stand for 10-12 minutes before slicing. Serve immediately with root vegetables.
Italian version
In this oven-baked mutton leg, basil and feta cheese help reveal the taste and aroma of lamb. If time permits, it is advisable to marinate the meat overnight in the refrigerator. For this dish you will need the following:
- 2-2.5 kilograms of lamb leg;
- ½ cup red wine;
- ¼ cup olive oil;
- 1 teaspoon dried basil or 2 tablespoons fresh;
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh garlic;
- 150 grams of feta cheese, crushed;
- ¼ cup dried tomatoes;
- ¼ cup chopped olives;
- 1 tablespoon capers, without brine;
- several sliced fresh basil or oregano leaves.
How to cook meat according to an Italian recipe
Preheat the oven to 190 ° C. Put the bottom of the pan with foil or baking paper. Put the meat out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Check its weight to calculate cooking time and place it on a baking sheet.
Using a sharp knife, make 8-10 small cuts on the top of the lamb leg. Combine wine, oil, basil and garlic and apply half the mixture over the entire surface of the meat.
Bake the lamb leg in the oven, preheated, calculating the time for 30 minutes for every 500 grams, while regularly applying the remaining marinade to the piece during the first hour of cooking. Over the past 30 minutes, mix the rest of the ingredients according to the recipe and apply them to the meat. When the lamb leg is cooked, remove the pan from the oven and let it brew for 20 minutes before slicing. Serve with pasta and seasonal vegetables.
Herb Option
Lamb leg, baked in the oven in foil, covered with a thick crust of crackers and herbs, will be the decoration of any holiday table. Serve it with crispy golden potatoes, carrots and peas or fragrant sauce. If you wish, you can make stuffed lamb leg by adding a mixture of crackers as a filling. For this recipe you will need:
- 2 kg of lamb leg;
- 300 grams of white bread, without crusts;
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped;
- 1 small bunch of parsley;
- on a sprig of mint, rosemary and thyme;
- 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard;
- ½ teaspoon of tea salt and ground black pepper;
- 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil;
- 2 cups of any chopped herbs;
- 1 tablespoon flour;
- 300 ml of dry white (or pink) wine.
Cooking spicy lamb leg in the oven in foil
Preheat oven to 190 ° C. Weigh the meat and calculate the baking time by determining 25 minutes for every 500 grams plus an additional 25 minutes. Put the lamb leg in the pan and place in the oven to cook for an hour.
Meanwhile, put the bread and garlic in the food processor. Remove the stems from the parsley and add to the above mixture. Tear off leaves from sprigs of mint, rosemary and thyme, put in a bowl of the combine with mustard. Beat all the ingredients until the bread is completely crushed, add seasonings and enough oil to keep the crumbs well together.
Remove the lamb leg from the oven, apply the bread mixture evenly throughout the piece. Return the meat to the oven and continue cooking for the remaining time.
Remove the leg from the oven and place on a serving plate, then cover tightly with a sheet of foil. Leave on for 15-20 minutes before chopping.
If there is no foil, you can follow this recipe for a lamb leg in the oven in the sleeve. This will not affect the taste of the dish.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Pour excess fat from the pan into the pan and place on the stove. Add flour and mix for a few seconds with a wooden spoon. Gradually pour the wine and boil until the mixture turns into a uniform sauce, and then strain through a sieve.
To make an additional simple mint sauce, finely chop a large handful of mint leaves and mix with two tablespoons of honey and 4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar.
Moroccan version
This is a classic recipe for fried lamb leg in the oven from Morocco, which is very popular in Europe. Such meat is often eaten with couscous and a traditional Moroccan vegetable dish in a seasoning broth. The principle of preparation of this dish is very simple. You make a deliciously aromatic seasoning mixture and rub the meat with them, and then bake it to your liking.
When the spices are stored whole, they are much tastier, because their aroma is preserved in this way. In order to make freshly ground spice, you can use it using a mortar and pestle (or food processor). Coriander, caraway seeds and ground sweet pepper are most ideal for lamb.
Only after the spices are ground, the garlic is mashed, and the oil is softened at room temperature, you should start mixing them. Only in this way you will get a uniform aromatic paste. You can apply it to meat with a teaspoon or with your fingers.
It is advisable to cook a lamb leg without bone, because otherwise it will be difficult to cut it. It is also recommended that you use onions because it adds richness to the dish.
For this Arabic dish you will need the following:
- 2 kg of lamb leg, room temperature;
- 100 grams of butter, at room temperature;
- 1 teaspoon olive oil + a little for lubrication;
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced;
- 2 full spoons of tea of whole caraway seeds;
- 2 teaspoons whole tea coriander seeds;
- 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika;
- 2 large onions, sliced in rings;
- salt.
Cooking an oriental dish
Preheat oven to 220 ° C oven. Cut off all the fat from the lamb leg (not deep, do not damage the layer of meat, otherwise the dish will not be so juicy).
Pound the seeds of caraway seeds with a mortar, pestle or food processor into a powder, leaving a few pieces intact for serving. Grind coriander in the same way.
Combine ground coriander and cumin, paprika, garlic, olive and butter to make a smooth paste. Pour some olive oil into a deep pan. Place the lamb leg in it, rubbing it well with an oil-spicy mixture. To do this, spread the paste on the surface of the meat with a spoon and rub it with your hands. Place a few onion rings on top and lay the rest on the sides. Bake for 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 220 ° C. Reduce temperature to 180 ° C. Bake further at the rate of 15 minutes for every 500 grams of meat.
Remove the finished dish from the oven. Cover with a sheet of foil and a tea towel. Let it stand for 15 to 20 minutes. Cut and serve, sprinkled with coarse salt and freshly ground caraway seeds, accompanied by cooked vegetables, couscous, salad or any other complex side dish.