Roast Leg Of Lamb With Flageolet Beans Recipes

Steps:

• Put the beans in Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot. Add 8 cups water and place pot over high heat. Stick 1 whole clove into each onion half. Add onion, bay leaves, carrot, garlic, thyme and salt. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to a bare simmer and cover with lid ajar. (The slow simmer keeps the beans from bursting.) After 30 minutes, taste the bean broth, and add salt as necessary. Cook for about another 30 minutes, but check for tenderness after 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let beans cool in their cooking liquid. (You may cook the beans several hours, or up to 1 day, in advance.)
• Meanwhile, prepare the lamb: With a sharp paring knife, make 24 small slits over the surface of the lamb. Using your fingers, push a garlic sliver into each slit.
• Season the leg generously all over with kosher salt, then sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon black pepper. Drizzle with about 2 tablespoons olive oil, and massage oil and seasonings all over the meat. Leave at room temperature for at least an hour. (Alternatively, wrap and refrigerate the seasoned leg for up to 24 hours. Bring to room temperature before proceeding.)
• Heat oven to 475 degrees. In a sturdy roasting pan, arrange the onions and celery. Lay down the thyme and rosemary branches and set the lamb leg on top. Roast, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then add wine to the pan and turn heat to 350 degrees. Continue cooking, basting the roast occasionally, until the internal temperature reaches 130 degrees for medium-rare or 140 for medium, which will take up to 1 1/2 hours.
• Transfer the roast to a cutting board and keep warm, tented with foil, for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the onions, celery, thyme and rosemary from the roasting pan and discard. Skim fat from surface of pan juices.
• Set pan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Taste and adjust with a splash of water if the pan juices are too salty.
• While lamb is resting, boil carrots in well-salted water until tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, toss with butter and keep warm.
• Reheat the beans in their broth, then drain reserving bean broth for another use. Remove and discard onion, bay leaves, carrot, garlic and thyme. Put beans in a warm serving dish. Toss beans gently with the parsley, chives, lemon zest, olive oil and pepper. Reheat pan juices, strain and pour into a serving vessel.
• Carve the lamb and arrange on serving platter along with the carrots. Garnish with watercress, if desired.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• It is recommended that you have the butcher remove and set aside the hipbone of the lamb. This is the upper bone that is attached to the main (straight) leg bone. This can also be done in the home kitchen, using a thin, sharp boning knife, neatly cutting all around the meat attached to the hipbone and severing the hipbone from the main bone. Cut off and discard the skin, leaving a light layer of fat.
• Rub the meat all over with the oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and the thyme.
• Make 16 gashes in the flesh of the leg and insert the garlic slivers.
• Place the leg, the thickest side down, in a roasting pan and scatter around it the hipbone, onion halves (cut side down), bay leaves and carrot pieces.
• Place in the oven and bake one hour. Remove the lamb and pour off the fat from the pan.
• Return the lamb to the pan, the thickest side up.
• Pour the water into the pan and continue baking 30 minutes for medium-rare lamb (135 degrees internal temperature). If you wish the lamb well done, continue cooking 30 minutes or longer. In any event, remove the lamb from the oven, discarding the hipbone and vegetables, cover with foil and let it stand for 20 minutes before carving. Serve, if desired, with flageolet beans in cream.

Steps:

• Using a sharp knife, cut small slashes all over the lamb, then push a slice of garlic into each. Put half the thyme, 3 tbsp olive oil, wine, lemon zest and a good grinding of black pepper into a large freezer bag. Addthe lamb, tie the bag tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hrs, preferably overnight.
• Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Put the rest of the thyme into the bottom of a roasting tin then lift the lamb out of the marinade and sit on top of the thyme. Roast for 20 mins, then toss onions into the pan, drizzle with a little oil, then turn the oven down to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Roast for 15 mins/450g for medium. Meanwhile, strain the marinade into a pan, add most of the stock and boil until reduced by two thirds (this will take about 20 mins). Set aside. Gravy can be made ahead or the day before if necessary, as long as the meat has marinated for 4 hrs.
• Once the lamb is ready, take out and rest on a board, wrapped in a tent of foil to keep warm. Set the onions aside in a bowl. Put the roasting tin onto a low heat and add the balsamic vinegar to the tin with a splash more stock and scrape all the meaty bits from the bottom. Tip into the jug with the gravy.
• For the beans, add 2 tbsp oil to the roasting tin. Add the rosemary and tomatoes, and fry for 1 min until the rosemary smells aromatic. Tip in the beans, the red onions and the final splash of stock, then warm through. Season, then stir in the parsley just before serving. Serve on a platter, topped with the lamb.