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Main-Lamb: Marinated Butterflied Leg of Lamb

Source of Recipe

Beat That! Cookbook


List of Ingredients

6 pounds leg of lamb, boned and butterflied -- (6 to 7)
1/4 cup corn oil
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary (1 tsp. dried)


Recipe

Arrange the meat so it lies before you like a messy open book made out of meat. Score the larger slabs 1/2" deep with a sharp knife so they'll cook at the same rate as the thinner parts. Lay the lamb flat in a large nonreactive dish. In a small owl, whisk together the oil, soy sauce, lemon rind, lemon juice, garlic, parsley and rosemary; pour them over the meat. Turn the lamb over a couple of times to coat it with the marinade. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and chill it for 24-48 hours, turning the lamb several times; this gives the marinade time to penetrate the meat.

Bring the lamb to room temperature before cooking. (Except in the dead of summer, this will take at least 2 hours.) It is helpful at this point, though not essential, to skewer the meat from left to right. One skewer should go through the top third and one through the bottom third. This will keep the meat more tidy and compact.

INDOOR COOKING: Preheat the oven to 375¼F, with a rack in the upper third. Transfer the meat, boned side up, to a large shallow roasting pan. Pour the marinade over it. Bake it for 20-25 minutes, without turning. For rare lamb (the recommended doneness), a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest lobe will read 120¼F. Remove the lamb from the oven and turn up the heat to broil. To make it look more "grilled", put the lamb as close as possible to the broiler element and broil it for 2 minutes, without turning. Transfer it to a carving board and let it rest, covered with foil, for 10 minutes before you carve it. Slice the meat against the grain.

OUTDOOR COOKING: When your coals are at their hottest, transfer the meat to an oiled, double-sided rack and barbecue it for 45 minutes to 1 hour, turning the rack every 5 minutes and brushing the meat with the marinade. For rare meat, cook until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest lobe registers 120¼F. Put the meat onto a carving board and let it rest, covered with foil, for 10 minutes before carving against the grain. Serves 6-8.