Roast Lamb — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Slow-roasted lamb leg with rosemary, garlic, and kumara (sweet potato). The quintessential New Zealand Sunday roast.

Ingredients

2kg bone-in leg of lamb
8 cloves garlic, cut into slivers
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tbsp olive oil
1kg agria or floury potatoes, peeled and quartered
500g kumara (sweet potato), peeled and cut into chunks
4 large carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise
2 onions, quartered
2 tbsp mint jelly for serving
Salt and black pepper
For gravy: 2 tbsp flour, 2 cups lamb or beef stock, splash of red wine

Instructions

1 Remove the lamb from the refrigerator one hour before cooking. Make deep incisions all over the leg with a sharp knife. Insert garlic slivers and small rosemary sprigs into each cut. Rub the entire surface with olive oil, then season very generously with salt and pepper.
2 Preheat the oven to 220C. Place the lamb on a rack in a large roasting pan. Roast at high heat for twenty minutes to develop a deeply browned, crusty exterior. This initial high-heat blast creates the flavourful caramelized crust essential to good roast lamb.
3 Reduce the oven temperature to 170C. Continue roasting for twenty minutes per 500g for medium-rare, or twenty-five minutes per 500g for medium. Baste the lamb with pan juices every twenty minutes to keep the surface moist and flavourful.
4 Forty-five minutes before the lamb is done, toss the potatoes, kumara, carrots, and onions with two tablespoons of the hot pan drippings. Arrange around the lamb in the roasting pan. Turn the vegetables once during cooking for even browning on all sides.
5 Remove the lamb when a meat thermometer reads 60C for medium-rare in the thickest part. Transfer to a carving board, cover loosely with foil, and rest for twenty minutes. The temperature will rise five to eight degrees during resting. Continue roasting the vegetables until golden.
6 Make the gravy by placing the roasting pan on the stovetop over medium heat. Sprinkle flour over the pan drippings and stir for two minutes. Add red wine and stock, whisking constantly, and simmer for five minutes until thickened. Strain into a gravy boat.
7 Carve the rested lamb into thin slices and arrange on a warmed platter with the roasted vegetables around the edges. Serve with the hot gravy, mint jelly, and steamed green vegetables. This Sunday roast is the centrepiece of New Zealand family gatherings.