Chef John's Roasted Leg of Lamb

Servings:

I've done more than a few lamb dishes dedicated to Easter but inexplicably have never posted one for a whole leg of lamb. It's a classic Easter menu option, and when prepared using this method, it makes for a very user-friendly hunk of meat.

Prep
28 min
Cook
128 min
Servings
Difficulty
Hard

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1 Stir together 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses, garlic, rosemary, salt, black pepper, Aleppo pepper, mint, and cumin in a bowl until combined. Set aside.
  2. 2 Lay lamb, fatty-side up, on a work surface. Cut 2 deep slashes in each fleshy end. Flip lamb and cut 10 to 20 shallow slashes across the surface of the fat.
  3. 3 Spread 3/4 of the pomegranate molasses mixture over the flesh-side of lamb. Fold meat together and place into a large bowl. Spread remaining pomegranate molasses mixture over the fatty-side of lamb. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours to overnight.
  4. 4 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place a roasting rack in the bottom of a roasting pan.
  5. 5 Remove lamb from marinade and discard excess marinade. Place lamb, fatty-side up, on a work surface. Tie the center section of lamb with kitchen twine to cinch roast together. Repeat ties four times along the length of roast.
  6. 6 Season lamb with salt and place on the roasting rack in the prepared pan. Pour water below the rack to cover the bottom of the pan.
  7. 7 Roast in the preheated oven until hot and slightly pink in the center, about 1 hour 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 135 degrees F (57 degrees C). Rest lamb for 15 minutes, then transfer to a plate and brush with remaining 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses.

Nutrition per serving

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