Rotisserie Leg of Lamb
Today I am so excited to be participating in a Lamb competition. I am 1 out of 10 bloggers in Seattle that is participating in Seattle’s best lamb recipe.
Voting starts on Friday, August 24th at Fans of Lamb site. (Don’t worry I will remind you again to start voting).
If one goes onto the second round (4 food blogger) you get to work with a famous local chef and prepare your lamb recipe for 100-150 people and then those folks will vote for the favorite recipe. Now that is exciting. What an event.
Well, this past week we all received a cut of meat and we didn’t know what kind of cut until we received it. Mine was an 8 lbs Leg of Lamb.
All week I had been thinking of how to prepare my lamb and I wanted to do it like I prepare my favorite ribs, which is slow cook them in the oven for 6-8 hours in 200F.
Well as it turns out it was 90 degrees in Seattle all week and most folks like myself do not have AC, and the last thing I wanted to do was have the oven on all day long in my already 85 degree house.
So I had to figure out how I could prepare this 8lbs beast outside. All I cold think was rotisserie. This was my first time doing a lamb rotisserie but I was up for the challenge.
I started to marinate my lamb with a rub just like I do my ribs, it’s a rub I just love, you prepare this the day before and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. However, I know the sauce I had to be different than my ribs. I decided to go for a more of Dijon and olive oil baste.
Then I had to figure out how to make sure the lamb stayed on the rotisserie. I ended up using rope and tying it around twice to make sure it would stay on the rotisserie. It worked perfectly.
The other things I had to think about was that I needed to have the temperature on low, but keeping it low is hard on the grill so I was basting every 15 minutes but also keeping the grill door open so the temperature would not go over 300F for a long periods of time.
After about 3 ½ hours my lamb was done and I was ready for a cold shower. Standing in 90F in front of the grill was exhausting. But the lamb was delicious. I served it with Muffin Potato Gratins and my favorite Tomato and Green Bean Salad. Then for dessert we had some Rum Raisin Ice Cream to cool us down.
Rotisserie Leg of Lamb
Yield: 12 people
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 3 1/3 hours (20 minutes/lbs)
Ingredients:
8 lbs Leg of Lamb (you can use a smaller piece)
The rub:
1 bulk of garlic
1 tbsp of Sea salt
1 tsp of cayenne
2 tsp of paprika
2 tsp of black pepper
2 tsp of onion power
2 tsp of thyme
2 tsp of marjoram
2 tsp of celery seed
1/3 cup olive oil
Lemon/Mustard baste:|
Juice of 2 lemon (about 4 tbsp)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 tsp Herbes de Provence
4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
4 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
Other equipment required:
Rotisserie Grill
Basting brush
Dripping pan
Ribbon
Meat thermometer
Directions:
Start the day before with preparing the rub. The best thing is to make this in a mortar, but if you don’t have a big one then use a food processor, but only a few pulses, you want this to be chunky rub.
Take the bulb of garlic smash each clove with the side of a knife or cleaver, peel them and put a few in a mortar/food process. Mash these to a pulp with the sea salt.
Now add all the seasoning. The 1 tsp of each is an estimate, I usually just pour a little of each, just be careful with the cayenne.
Note: If you like other seasons you can add that too but do not add sugar or honey that will make the lamb burn.
Add the oil – enough to make this into a paste. It should be moist but plentiful.
Massage this into the lamb all around. Wrap it in plastic wrap put into a bag and leave it in the fridge overnight.
The following day take your lamb out of the refrigerator and let it get to room temperature.
Get your grill ready with a dripping pan and align the rotisserie. Start the grill up
Then take the lamb and attach it to the rotisserie and use ribbon and some strength to make sure it is on there tight, before you put the lamb on the grill.
Once you think you are ready put in a meat thermometer and the attached the rotisserie onto the grill.
Now prepare you brine by combining all the baste ingredients in a small bowl, and whisk to combine.
Start brining every 15 minutes; do not let the temperature get too hot on the grill keep it around 300F. If it’s gets much hotter open the grill. If you run out of brine just make some more.
The lamb will be rare at 135 and medium at 140F. I removed mine at 135 and then let it rest for 20 minutes in foil.
Pour any juices from the resting and carving of the lamb into a gravy dish. Serve the lamb, using the juices as a sauce.
Adapted Brine recipe from: Dad Cooks Dinner
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