Sunday, 16 January 2011

Fern Britton's Garlic & Rosemary Lamb

Fern's married to a celebrity chef but is a great cook herself

Fern Britton

'I don't know what I would do without roast lamb,' says Fern. 'I even have it for Christmas. This is a very rich variation of a basic Sunday lunch, but boy is it good! The flavours of rosemary, garlic and red wine are perfect companions to the lamb. The addition of anchovies may sound a bit odd, but they act as a tenderiser and any fishy flavour is cooked out.'

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb weighing approx 2.5kg/5½lb
3 cloves garlic
3 large sprigs rosemary
4 tinned anchovy fillets
0.25ltr/9fl oz (½ bottle) red wine
Salt and pepper
1tbsp plain flour
A little stock or vegetable water

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5.
2 Trim as much fat as you can from the leg of lamb. Using a small sharp knife, make several cuts about 2cm/¾in deep into both sides of the meat. Slice the garlic cloves lengthways into thin slivers. Divide the rosemary into small sprigs and cut the anchovies into 1cm/½in strips. Insert a piece of each of garlic, rosemary and anchovy into the cuts, squashing in the anchovy.
3 Place the lamb in a non-metallic dish, pour a glass of red wine over the meat and leave to marinade for at least 30 mins. Better still, leave overnight, covered, in the fridge.
4 Place the lamb on a rack in a roasting tray. Pour the marinade juices over the lamb and season with salt and pepper. To give you lamb that's cooked but not well done, roast the meat for 20 mins per 450g/1lb. Add a splash of red wine during cooking, but save about ¾ of a glass for the gravy.
5 Take the lamb out of the oven, put it on a warm platter, cover with foil and leave to stand for 15-20 mins before carving.
6 Meanwhile, make the gravy using the juices from the roasting tray. Spoon off most of the excess fat, put the roasting pan over a gentle heat, sprinkle on the flour and whisk into the remaining fat. I find that using a small whisk produces the best results for lump-free gravy.
7 Pour in the remaining wine and scrape any sediment from the bottom of the pan and stir in.
8 Add the vegetable water or stock to the pan a little at a time and simmer. Keep whisking until the gravy has thickened. Check seasoning, pour the gravy into a warmed jug and serve.

Recipe taken from Cooking For Life compiled by Louise Robinson. For more information about this book, call 020-7793 4500 or visit www.wateraid.org.