See Also: France · Main Dishes · Meat Dishes
Lamb with Rosemary and Anchovies
From Dorothy McNett's recipes at www.dorothymcnett.com. This is a version of a wonderful roasted lamb served while on a culinary tour of the South of France a few years ago.
1 boned leg of lamb, 4-6 pounds
1-2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, or other wonderful mustard of choice
6-8 large spinach leaves
2-3 cloves garlic
1 small onion, quartered
2-3 tablespoons fresh rosemary
zest of 1 lemon
juice of half of the lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
few grindings of pepper
3-4 anchovies in oil (canned or bottled)
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (diced French bread, etc.)
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, slivered
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lay the let of lamb out flat with the place where the bone used to be facing up. Using your sharp boning or slicing knife, butterfly the roast, opening it to make a fairly even flat piece of meat. Spread the cut surface with the mustard, and then lay the spinach leaves over the mustard, covering all of the meat. Set aside. In food processor with steel chopping blade in place first whirl the cloves of garlic to get them nicely minced, and then add the onion and rosemary. Pulse to chop finely, adding the zest, juice, salt, pepper, anchovies and bread crumbs. Process just to blend, adding as much oil as needed to make it "spreadable". Now spread this mixture over the spinach leaves, making it as even as possible. Beginning at one long end of the roast, roll the meat as tightly as possible. Don't worry! It may look messy at this point. Using linen trussing twine, tie the roast in several places. Place in heavy bottomed roasting pan (no rack necessary). Spread with the remaining olive oil and rub in the garlic and sprinkle with paprika. Place in hot oven, turn the temperature down to 375 degrees and roast for 60-80 minutes, or until instant meat thermometer registers about 170-175 degrees. Remove from oven, tent with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes. Slice (remove the twine!) and serve.
Recipe created 2010-07-27.
