Roast Leg of Lamb
The Sunday lamb of the British table, the centrepiece of an Easter lunch and the dish a mother-in-law judges you on. You bring a 2-2.5 kg bone-in leg to room temperature first (essential - cold meat into a hot oven cooks unevenly), score the fat, then stud the leg with slivers of garlic and tuck rosemary tips into the cuts. Smear with oil, salt and a paste of crushed garlic. The lamb starts hot to colour the skin, then drops to a low roast and pulls when a probe in the thickest part reads 55°C for pink or 60°C for medium. A full twenty-minute rest is non-negotiable; this is when the juices settle back into the meat and the slices stay pink rather than weeping grey. While it rests you build a simple jus from the pan drippings, deglazed with wine and reduced down. Roast potatoes, mint sauce, peas; a glass of claret in your hand and the family gathered.