Crisp leg of lamb with roasted vegetables in red wine

A leg of lamb is one of the most satisfying things to serve for your guests: it does not take long to prepare, there is something hugely satisfying about the process of watching it cook in the oven, it is pretty much fool proof and the taste is heavenly.

This recipe was refined during my last work stint in New Zealand and obviously inspired by the local produce. You might want to add other ingredients or omit some of mine, but if you stick to the principles of this specialty, the result will always be pleasing.

Ingredients

• One leg of lamb on or off the bone, depending on your preferences
• strong french mustard
• 2 kumaras
• 8 medium sized potatoes
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut in big slices
• 8 garlic cloves
• oregano, basil, rosemary, salt, pepper
• Crème fraîche
• one shot of whiskey (nothing special)
• one bottle of red wine for cooking purposes: I normally use a cheap and cheerful australian Shiraz for cooking, and it's good enough to have a gluck while cooking.

Put a couple of fingers in the mustard glass and scoop up a generous helping of mustard. Now rub the mustard onto the whole surface of the leg of lamb and produce a shiny and yellow coating. Slightly salt and pepper the leg. Sprinkle with a generous amount of basil, rosemary and oregano (I use a tablespoon each). Put aside to rest. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Place leg in the centre of a typical square metallic oven pan and place the kumaras and the potatoes (cubed or whole, peeled or not, depends on your preferences) around it. Do the same with the garlic cloves and the carrots. Now pour ca. a third of the red wine carefully over the leg and put the whole pan into the middle of the oven. Every ten minutes or so, pour another two spoonfuls of red wine over the lamb. You'll see how the coating and the spices will seep into the fond, making this a very aromatic one.

Normally the leg shouldn't take longer than an hour to 90 minutes to cook, but you might want to try by checking it with a long small knife after an hour.

If you're satisfied that the meat has a nice crust on the outside and nice and pink on the inside, take the pan out of the oven and put the vegetables and the meat on an large plate and put that back in the now cooler oven and keep the heat at around 75 degrees. Now you have to be quick:

Place the pan on a heating element of your stove and heat it on low temperature. Pour a shot of whiskey into the remaining fluid in the pan and stir with a wooden spoon quickly to release the fond from the ground. Add creme fraiche and red wine until you have the desired consistency for a sauce and pour it into a sauciere. Now serve the lamb and the veggies with plenty of the sauce.

If you crave for something green with this, I'd suggest leaf spinach. Winewise, I like a strong, spicy red wine with a meal like this, i.e. the McGuigan Bin 2000 Shiraz.

Bon appetite!