Recipe: Roasted Leg of Lamb

Gigo d'agneau rotî

When it comes to food, there is really only one holiday tradition that I care about. And it is not turkey, people.

It is lamb. Glorious lamb.

Lamb in stew, curries, and gyros. And roasted lamb. While digging through my cookbooks, I stumbled across a fabulous recipe for roasted leg of lamb. It is fabulous because of it’s simplicity and would be a lovely main dish for any weekend meal. And if your leg of lamb is large enough, you are almost guaranteed leftovers.

I’ve adapted the recipe, taken from the Time Life Books: Foods of the World series, “Recipes: The Cooking of Provincial France. By the way, if you have any of these books lying around somewhere, you are VERY lucky, as they are out of print. They are great cooking references, offering regional recipes from France, Italy, China, and on and on.

Gigot d’Agneau Roti

3 to 5 lb leg of lamb
salt
garlic, cut into slivers
vegetable oil
optional: meat thermometer

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Remove any excess fat from the lamb, but leave the fell (the thick, fat layer). Make several quarter inch incisions into the leg and stick the garlic slivers into each cut.

Rub the vegetable oil and salt all over the leg and place it, fat side up, onto a roasting pan. Place into oven, uncovered, and roast for 20 minutes.

Reduce heat to 375 F and continue roasting. Using a meat thermometer will help in this case; about 40 minutes (130 – 140 degrees) for rare, 50 minutes (140 – 150 degrees) for medium, or 60 minutes (150 – 160 degrees) for well-done.

Recipe: Maple Cardamom Granola

If you crave a quick yet delish meal for breakfast, you can’t beat homemade granola. This recipe is hella-easy to make; you can substitute the spices, nuts and dried fruit to your taste.  I’ve been making a weekly batch of the stuff for years. Make it once and you’ll soon be able to whip this out in 30 minutes or less.  Goes great with greek yogurt and keeps you full until lunchtime.

Recipe:

4 cups rolled oats (the thicker the better–no instant stuff, please)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cardamon

Equal parts vegetable oil and maple syrup (just enough to coat the oat mixture)

Optional:

1/2 cup nuts

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup dried fruit

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Combine the oats, nuts, spices, and coconut and mix well. Add oil and maple syrup, you only need enough to moisten the mixture, but not too much that you end up with a soggy mess.

Take a large baking/cookie sheet and spread the mixture evenly across the surface.

Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven to toss mixture, place back in oven and bake for 10 minutes more. I prefer mine granola to be on the toasty side, so adjust the last few minutes to your own taste.

Remove from oven and toss in the dried fruit. Let cool and enjoy!

The granola lasts for a week or more; store in a glass or ceramic container with a lid.