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My first ever leg of lamb was ah-mazing!  Rosemary Garlic Roasted Leg of Lamb is simple to prepare and makes a stunning presentation at your Easter dinner with family and friends.  Don’t let lamb intimidate you like it did me.

This post is sponsored by Superior Farms American lamb, but all opinions are my own.

Lamb and I have a very sordid past. When I was younger, I used to have a very picky palate.  I remember having lamb for the first time and not liking it at all.  It had this flavor that my picky palate didn’t appreciate. But my story with lamb does not end there.

Fast forward many, and I repeat many, years later when I met my husband. For my first birthday celebration with him he took me to New York City. He wanted to take me to a French restaurant because we’re both foodies and I have never been to one before. He ordered duck and I ordered lamb. That was the first time in decades that I ate lamb.

It’s the first time ever that I enjoyed eating lamb.

Ever since then I have branched out to eating lamb chops and lamb porterhouse.  I’ve even cooked a rack of lamb. And finally, we cooked up delicious lamb burgers. However, leg of lamb and lamb shank is something that I have never cooked. But it’s something I’ve always wanted to try.

And as you can see, I had the opportunity to cook a boneless leg of lamb thanks to Superior Farms. They contacted me about creating a lamb recipe. Of course, I jumped on board because I was already thinking about having lamb for the holidays.

Superior Farms is an American lamb company that is employee owned. They are innovative in the way they market lamb and their exciting flavor combinations.  Their innovation doesn’t stop there.  Superior Farms has been sustainable since 1964!!

Not only does their lamb graze in vineyards to replenish the nutrients and microbes, but they also have solar panels and wind turbines. They generate 90% of their facilities energy with those panels and turbines. They are not only dedicated to their flock but also to the ranchers who raise them.

Superior Farms lamb has superior taste!  It’s mild flavor is sought out by the largest retailers and best restaurants.  Since you can purchase it commercially, there is no need to make those fancy restaurant reservations.  You can make lamb at home and try some of these delicious recipes for Easter.

You can trust me on this one since this is my first leg of lamb!

It was a rather long day when the package arrived.  I had a couple of interviews that week and the week before. For those that don’t know I’m an introvert and don’t usually talk about myself. Except in written form on my blog. So, it was a very long and exhausting 2 weeks.

When I got home from the last interview at the end of the 2 week, I went to walk the dogs. When we came back from our walk, I noticed a huge FedEx package in the driveway.  I had to stop and laugh. The FedEx driver actually moved not just the trash can, but the dog waste trash can to put the box by the garage. This is funny because most other delivery drivers leave it by the air conditioning unit on the other side of the garage. Sometimes this causes problems. Especially if I don’t check to see if there is the package before I back out of the garage.

I almost ran over our air fryer for Christmas.

So, I brought the dogs in the house and sent them upstairs.  I proceeded to haul the box in through the garage door. Now, our garage door is not a regular sized door.  It is slightly smaller.  I struggled getting the box through the door because of the way I had to carry it and because that door is smaller. Laughing the entire time, I knew exactly what it was and was completely excited to be cooking with lamb.

Just look at those beautiful chops!

I set the box down on the bench inside the door. There was no need to carry the whole box upstairs.  I just needed to take the lamb out of the box and take that upstairs. So, I opened the box and there’s a huge foam cooler inside packed with those freezer packets. There was a smaller box inside the cooler that was like 1/3 of the size of the FedEx box.

So again, I’m laughing.  It was such a huge box for such a little package, comparatively speaking. When I got upstairs to the kitchen and opened the smaller box, I realized why there needed to be a large box with all those gel packs. The lamb was fresh not frozen.  I was completely surprised.  I had expected frozen like most meat shipments in the past and was excited that the lamb wasn’t frozen.

Since I’m a leg of lamb virgin, I did my research before the lamb arrived.  I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a bone in or boneless leg of lamb so I researched both.  I knew exactly how I would prepare it.  As a pleasant surprise, I received a package of ground lamb and a package of lollipop chops.  I will do some research on the chops and plan a delicious burger that I will definitely share on my blog.

I was happy that it was a boneless leg of lamb because I wanted to make sure that whole leg of lamb had flavor all the way through. With the boneless leg of lamb, I could easily open it up, cover it with my garlic mixture, roll it back up, tie it up, and then cook it. A bone in leg of lamb meant I might have to marinate it a little longer.

 

Now since it was boneless, I toyed with stuffing it. But I thought that might be a little more than I could chew at this point in time.  I thought it best to keep it simple and use the same with flavors I know go well with lamb.  I also wanted to show those who are hesitant about cooking a leg of lamb that anyone can do it. Even if you haven’t cooked a leg of lamb before you have no worries. 

Trust me because I speak from experience.

I did do some research on the boneless leg of lamb and if there was anything, I needed to do to prepare it before cooking.  I unrolled the lamb.  It was conveniently already in an elastic trussing and I could have just put the lamb in the oven right out of the package. But I wanted the get that rosemary garlic flavor throughout.

I looked for any silver skin to remove along with any large amounts of fat. This is not something that you have to do. But it is a good idea to see if there’s any silver skin because when that cooks it’s going to be tough.  I rubbed the inside of the boneless leg of lamb with my garlic mixture.  Then I rolled it back up.  And then I proceeded to tie it.

I almost, I repeat almost, got thoroughly pissed at this leg of lamb.

I had the most difficult time ever trying to wrap this leg of lamb back up in twine.  Of course, a lot of it has to do with my only experience with trussing things is chicken. Those I can tie up with my eyes closed. However, I’ve never tide up a leg of lamb, or leg of anything for that matter.  It was a rather large learning curve for me. This is the only struggle I had in making this lamb dish.

When I finally tide it all up, I put garlic mixture on the outside.  I wrapped the lamb nice and tight in plastic wrap.  I put it in the refrigerator to marinate, for lack of a better word, until I was ready to cook the lamb.  Now, I have to tell you my house smelled of rosemary and garlic at least a day if not longer.

That’s not a bad thing.

I pulled the lamb out about an hour before I wanted to put it in the oven.  I do this with large roasts, my turkey, chickens; you name it.  In my opinion, the meat should not be refrigerator cold when it goes in the oven. That can affect the cooking temperature in the meat causing it to cook unevenly.

The lamb went into the oven at 400 for 15 minutes and then I reduce the temperature to 325.  I checked it at about an hour, and it wasn’t quite the temperature I wanted. But it was time for me to put the baby potatoes and Brussels sprouts in the oven.  I guess you could call this is sheet pan meal?

The roast smelled AH-azing!!!

Of course, this is what I expected. Any roasted meat smells amazing.  I wanted to make sure that the flavor was delicious and something I could enjoy. And let me tell you the flavor of this Rosemary Garlic Roasted Leg of Lamb is amazing.

Now, I am going to be honest and tell you that the flavor of my first experience with lamb was there. But it was not as pungent because the lamb was fresh.  It had such a mild flavor and tasted amazing.  I devoured my plate!

Even eating leftovers the next day, they are delicious.  I made some scrumptious lamb tacos with some leftover slices.  It all boils down to the quality and age of the lamb. As long as the lamb is fresh, and you trust your supplier you can trust lamb to be delicious.

Since this was a good-sized leg of lamb, and there are only 2 of us in the house, we have quite a bit of lamb leftover.  I divided the leftovers into 2 packages and vacuum sealed them. They’re sitting in the freezer waiting for me to create something new with the leftovers. And I can’t wait to make something with these delicious rosemary garlic roasted leg of lamb leftovers.

There are many recipes on the Superior Farms website.  I highly recommend you go through and see what flavors they’ve put together with their lamb. You can also find out more about their brands. 

So, for those of you who are on the fence about making lamb I hope I have shown you that lamb is delicious. Lamb is easy to prepare at home.  If this picky eater can cook and enjoy lamb, then you can, too.  And this is a perfect recipe to serve your family for the holidays this year.

Just a little bit of food history.

The tradition of having lamb for Easter goes all the way back to the Jews and Passover. Jewish families would sacrifice a lamb and paint the door posts with the lamb’s blood. This would cause God to pass over their house thus saving their first-born son. This is one theory about how lamb became the traditional meal to serve at Easter.

Those who follow the Christian faith refer to Jesus as the Lamb of God.  I guess it’s a bit of a stretch but having lamb at Easter is their way of celebrating their faith. But that’s another theory about lamb at Easter. 

I personally think that the tradition started because lamb was typically the first fresh meat after winter.  I’m always interested in how farming and harvests affect religious traditions.  Either way, Easter is known for delicious lamb.  And my garlic roasted leg of lamb is a new tradition your family will love this holiday season. And you’ll love how easy it is to cook!

   

Oven Roasted Recipes

• Honey Pecan Crusted Salmon by Art of Natural Living
• Mediterranean Chicken Legs Sheet Pan Dinner by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Roasted Vegetables with Italian Sausage by Blogghetti
• Roasted Whole Pumpkin with Stuffing by Palatable Pastime
• Rosemary Garlic Roasted Beef Tenderloin by That Recipe
• Rosemary Garlic Roasted Leg of Lamb by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures

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