Barbequed Leg of Lamb

I barbequed my very first successful leg of lamb on our new grill a few weeks ago and was keen to test my luck again whilst I had my mum visiting over the weekend; whipping up a veritable feast to celebrate the occasion!

I served the tender, sticky lamb with buttery jacket potatoes, a simple green salad and a tangy yoghurt sauce. The perfect meal for these gorgeous summer evenings we’ve been having.

Serves 6-8 

What you’ll need:

• 1/5kg short lamb leg – butterflied (the butcher can do this for you)
• 6 cloves of garlic – chopped finely or crushed
• 1 Tbs paprika
• 1 small red chilli – finely sliced
• The juice and zest from one lemon
• Sprig of thyme leaves – stems removed
• Sprig of oregano leaves – stems removed
• 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• 80ml coconut oil – at room temperature
• 60ml olive oil
• 1 tsp Rice Malt Syrup

How to get it done:

1. Whisk together lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, 60mls of the coconut oil, olive oil, rice malt syrup and paprika in a in a large, shallow dish. Mix through the chilli and garlic.

2. Score the lamb skin with a sharp knife (this allows the marinade to soak in for maximum flavour and tenderness), and season both sides of the lamb with salt and pepper.

3. Place the lamb in the marinade and turn to coat. Ensure its skin side up then cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

4. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before cooking and let it come to room temperature before cooking.

5. Brush a cold barbecue grill with the remaining coconut oil (I’m using coconut oil for this as it has a higher burn temp so it won’t smoke). Preheat on high heat and once hot reduce the heat to medium-high.

6. Wipe as much of the marinade of as you can and barbecue the lamb, skin side down, for 10 minutes. Turn and cook for a further 5 minutes.

7. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover lamb with barbecue hood (If you don’t have a hood a large roasting dish will do) and barbecue for a further 10-15 minutes for medium rare/medium or until cooked to your liking.

8. Remove from the heat  and cover the lamb loosely with foil. Set aside for 10 minutes to rest.

9. Whilst the lamb is resting heat the left over marinade in a frypan (you can do this on the bbq if the handle is long enough to do so safely) until it comes to the boil.

10. Pour over the remaining hot marinade and slice the lamb thinly across the grain.