Leg of lamb with a herb crust recipe

A roast leg of lamb covered with a thick crust of breadcrumbs and herbs makes a fabulous centre piece for your Easter table. Serve it with crisp golden roast potatoes, carrots, and peas or a green vegetable and lashings of rich gravy and all the family will come back for seconds! We’ve also given you a handy recipe for fresh home made mint sauce to serve with it – what better way to celebrate Easter! If liked, you could also bone out the leg of lamb (or a shoulder of lamb) and use the breadcrumb mixture as a stuffing instead.

Ingredients

For this Easter recipe you will need:

• 2kg leg of lamb
• 300g white bread, crusts removed
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 1 small bunch of parsley
• 3 sprigs each of mint, rosemary and thyme
• 2tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2tsp salt and plenty of ground black pepper
• 2-3tbsp olive oil
• 300ml vegetable stock
• 1tsp plain flour
• 300ml dry white wine or light red wine

Method

1. Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C Fan/Gas Mark 5. Weigh the meat and calculate the roasting time allowing 25mins per 500g plus 25 minutes for medium cooked lamb, 30 mins per 500g plus 30 mins for well done meat. Place the lamb in a roasting tin and roast for 1hr of the calculated cooking time.
2. Meanwhile, place the bread and garlic in a food processor. Remove the stalks from the parsley and add to the food processor. Pull the leaves off the mint, rosemary and thyme and add to the food processor with the mustard.
3. Whiz until it is all finely chopped then add plenty of seasoning and enough oil to make the breadcrumbs stick well together. Remove the lamb from the oven then pat the breadcrumb mixture all over the lamb. Return to the oven and continue cooking for the remainder of the time.
4. Remove the lamb from the oven and lift it onto a serving plate, then cover tightly with a sheet of foil. Leave to rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.
5. Meanwhile, make the gravy. Pour away the excess fat from the roasting tin and place the tin with the lamb juices over a medium heat on the hob. Sprinkle with the flour and stir for a few seconds with a wooden spoon.
6. Gradually add the wine and scrape up all of the caramelised juices from the base of the tin. Leave to simmer gently until it has reduced to a well-flavoured gravy, then strain into a gravy boat. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary, and keep hot.