ROAST LAMB (By: Nigel Slater)
Served with roasted vegetables (recipe below)
Ingredients
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2 kg leg of Lamb, or shoulder, on the bone
1 sprig Thyme, or rosemary
1-2 whole head Garlic, unpeeled
3-4 tbsp Olive oil
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 1 hrs 20 mins
Serves: 6
Method
1. Set the oven at 230C/gas 8. Put the lamb in a roasting pan big enough to allow
you to get some herbs and garlic around the meat. Strip the thyme or rosemary
leaves off their stems--you will need a couple of large sprigs of rosemary or six to
eight little sprigs of thyme--and chop or crush the leaves quite finely.
2. Stir enough olive oil into them to make a spreadable slush, then crumble in little
salt and some crushed black pepper. Massage the seasoned oil all over the meat,
then cut the whole heads of garlic in half and tuck them under the lamb with the
stems from the herbs.
3. Roast in the preheated oven for twenty minutes, then turn the heat down to
200C/gas 6 and continue roasting until the fat is golden and crisp and the meat is
done as you would like it. Lamb needs about fifteen minutes per 450g of meat,
plus the initial twenty minutes, so for a 2kg roast you should start checking after
the meat has been in the oven for an hour and twenty minutes. This will give you
medium-rare meat, still juicy and quite pink in the middle.
4. Remove the meat from the oven, discard the garlic and herb twigs (they have
served their purpose but do pull out some of the garlic cloves from their skins
first), and leave the lamb to rest for ten minutes before carving.
5. You could make gravy by adding peeled and roughly chopped onions to the pan
so that they roast sweetly. When you get the lamb out to rest, sprinkle a light
dusting of flour over the onions, let them sizzle for a few seconds over a high heat,
then pour over enough stock, water, or wine to make a thin, oniony gravy. Season,
but do not strain; the onions are crucial.
Dominika Bugajska-Brown, Community Nutritionist, IRH, Dietetics Dept. 23/02/10
Adapted from Nigel Slater and the Eatwell website of the Food Standards Agency
Roast vegetables
Prep & cooking time: about 1h
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2 small Carrots, halved
4 tbsp Olive oil
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
1 tsp Thyme, leaves only
3 small Parsnips, halved
12 large Shallots (or few red onions) peeled and sliced
1 small Butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into quarters
1 pinch black pepper (optional)
You can add some red (sweet) potato to the veg mix for an alternative to
traditional roast potatoes and complete meal.
You can vary the vegetables and quantities to your liking, e.g. whole garlic cloves,
peppers, aubergines, courgettes or tomatoes. If using any of the above examples,
you will need to reduce the time accordingly. You could add them around half way
through the cooking time of the other root vegetables, if cooking together.
Serves: 2-3
To roast the vegetables, preheat the oven to 200 C.
Place the olive oil in a roasting tin and add the garlic and thyme. Add the carrots,
parsnips, shallots and butternut squash and toss well to combine and roast in the
oven for about 45 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and lightly
caramelised, tossing from time to time to ensure they cook evenly.
To make the meal balanced and healthy, make sure you pile on the veg and
potatoes, making meat the smallest part of your plate and avoid eating the
visible fat.
No nutritional analysis available for the above recipes.
Dominika Bugajska-Brown, Community Nutritionist, IRH, Dietetics Dept. 23/02/10
Adapted from Nigel Slater and the Eatwell website of the Food Standards Agency
If you are not so keen on roast lamb, you can always try this No Frills-roast
chicken – below.
Roast chicken
Ingredients
1 x 2kg - 3kg whole chicken or legs
Optional – some onion, lemon and garlic for stuffing
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Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C or gas mark 5.
2. To add extra flavour, stuff the chicken with some onion, lemon and garlic.
3. Put the chicken into a large baking tray and roast in the centre of the oven
for 1-1.5 hours. Chicken legs require around 30-40 minutes.
4. Check that the chicken is cooked completely by piercing the thickest part of
the leg with a clean knife or skewer. The chicken is cooked when the juices
run clear.
Nutritional information
Nutrient
Per 100g
Per 100g portion
Energy
177 kcal (743 kJ) 177 kcal (743 kJ)
Protein
27.3g
27.3g
Carbohydrate
0.0g
0.0g
(of which sugars)
0.0g
0.0g
Fat
7.5g
7.5g
(of which saturates) 2.1g
2.1g
Fibre
0.0g
0.0g
Sodium
0.08
0.08g
Salt
0.2g
0.2g
Analysed with skinless chicken and without optional stuffing ingredients
Food safety tips
Always wash your hands, work surfaces, utensils and chopping boards before you
start and after handling raw meat, including poultry. Keep raw meat away from
ready-to-eat foods such as salad, fruit and bread. Make sure that the chicken is
thoroughly cooked by checking the meat at the thickest part, between the breast
and leg, making sure that it is steaming hot all the way through, that no pink meat
is left and that any juices run clear.
Dominika Bugajska-Brown, Community Nutritionist, IRH, Dietetics Dept. 23/02/10
Adapted from Nigel Slater and the Eatwell website of the Food Standards Agency