Butterflied leg of lamb with smoked onions, caraway roasted potatoes and barbecue gravy
This recipe involves plenty of marinating time, gravy made with chicken wings and a make-shift wok smoker! So much flavour to be had here.
Ingredients
For the butterflied leg of lamb
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp coarse black pepper
- 3 sticks rosemary, leaves picked and roughly chopped
- 2 bay leaves, roughly chopped
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- ½ leg of lamb, bone removed and butterflied
- salt, to taste
For the gravy
- 10 chicken wings, cut in half
- 200g/7oz smoked pancetta, roughly chopped
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 2 sticks celery, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds
- 1 small bunch thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1–2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 150ml/5fl oz Madeira
- 1.5 litres/2¾ pints dark chicken stock
- 4 tbsp barbecue sauce (or to taste)
For the caraway roasted potatoes
- 6 Ratte potatoes (or other small floury fingerling potato), cut in half on an angle
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 tsp caraway seeds
- 20ml/¾fl oz olive oil
- 25g/1oz unsalted butter
For the smoked onions
Method
To make the leg of lamb, combine the garlic, black pepper, rosemary, bay leaves and olive oil in a large tray and mix together. Rub the marinade into the meat on both sides, cover and allow to marinate overnight in the fridge. The next day, remove from the fridge to bring it to room temperature.
To make the gravy, preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7.
Toss the chicken wings, pancetta, vegetables, and aromatics together in a large roasting tray and cook in the oven until dark golden-brown and crisp – this should take about 40 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven, add enough of the flour to absorb the fat, then stir in the tomato purée. Cook over a medium heat for a minute or so on the stove and then add the Madeira. Boil to reduce the volume of liquid by half, then add the chicken stock and cook to allow the liquid to reduce by half again. Whisk in the barbecue sauce, to taste. Strain the stock through a sieve and season with salt, to taste.
To make the caraway roasted potatoes, cut the potatoes into thick pieces and toss in the garlic, caraway and olive oil. Reduce the oven to 210/190C Fan/Gas 6 and roast the potatoes until golden-brown and tender – around 30 minutes – then add the butter and toss the potatoes to glaze. Keep warm.
Meanwhile, to cook the butterflied leg of lamb, heat a barbecue or chargrill until hot and season the lamb with salt. Put the lamb on the barbecue (or chargrill), allowing both sides to colour. Whilst cooking, you can cover with a large pan to trap the smoke inside and enhance the smoke flavour. If too smoky, you may wish to finish the cooking for the last 10–15 minutes in the hot oven. Rest the meat, covered in a warm place before slicing.
To make the smoked onions, prepare some wood chips in the base of a (lidded) wok with a wire rack arranged on top. The rack will hold the onions over the wood chips whilst they smoke. Heat the olive in a pan and fry the onions until golden-brown. Transfer the onions onto the prepared wire rack inside the wok. Put the lid on and allow to smoke over a low heat for 20 minutes.
To serve, slice the lamb and place on a serving platter (or individual plates if using). Serve the roast potatoes and smoked onions alongside and finish with the gravy.
