Smoked Leg of Lamb with Rosemary

When we go to Sam’s Club and check out their fresh meat selections, sometimes we see lamb meat in their ice case.  We look at it curiously, and usually walk away from it.  Mainly because we usually have the weekend’s food already planned, and we didn’t want to freeze meat if we didn’t have to.  The last time we were looking at it though, we decided to give it a try.  We got the leg of lamb, which was already deboned, and it was wrapped in twine.  I never had lamb before – I think.  I’ve eaten goat meat before, but usually it would be heavily spiced so I couldn’t taste the gamey goat taste from the meat.

Hubby went online and found this recipe for marinating the leg of lamb.  Salt, pepper, dijon mustard, lemon, honey, garlic and rosemary.  Pretty straight forward to me.

 

 

I measured out the honey into a small mixing bowl.

 

 

Added the Dijon mustard.

 

 

Chopped the rosemary – from which I had ended up buying a potted rosemary plant from Lowe’s.  That actually saved us a trip to the grocery store, since the home improvement store sold the plant.  It was a win win situation here!  I got a rosemary plant, which I can pick the rosemary whenever I need it, and Lowe’s thought they earned their profit by selling me a rosemary plant!   🙂

 

 

Then I dumped the chopped rosemary into the bowl…

 

 

Added the black pepper.

 

 

Zested the lemon…

 

 

Dumped the zest into the bowl…

 

 

Minced the garlic…

 

 

Dumped the garlic into the bowl too…

 

 

Then I mixed it up…

 

 

And we unwrapped the leg of lamb, and cut the twine off.  We drizzled the marinade on the leg of lamb…

 

 

Then put the marinated leg of lamb into a gallon-sized ziploc bag and put it back into the refrigerator to marinate overnight.

 

 

The next day, Hubby was preparing to smoke the leg of lamb.  He put the leg of lamb into a small foil pan and put it into the smoker when the fire was hot enough.

 

 

After 2 hours, Hubby came back in with the leg of lamb.  He let it rest for 20 minutes, and then he sliced it thinly.

 

 

The meat looked delicious and tasty…  I couldn’t wait to taste it…..at the time.

 

 

We served it with mint jelly, along with boiled potatoes with gravy made from the drippings left in the foil roasting pan, roasted asparagus and aoili.  How was the taste?  The meat itself was tender.  It was more greasy than what we are used to, even with beef or pork.  But then, it had that after taste just after you swallow, the same after taste after you eat goat cheese.  So, all in all, it was very tender, juicy and moist, but I think the after taste just did not sit well with me.  With beef, I could eat the bark and love it actually, but I couldn’t eat the bark of this leg of lamb.  It was just undigestable.  I could eat lamb, but it would not be my first preferance for meat.  I would prefer either beef, pork, or chicken first.  But, for lamb lovers out there, you are welcome to try the marinade.  I wonder if I can use the marinade for something else…. If I try it, I will let you know!

Print recipe here.
Roast Leg of Lamb with Rosemary
Recipe by jmass

Ingredients:
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons prepared Dijon-style mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 pounds whole leg of lamb
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Directions:
1.  In a small bowl, combine the honey, mustard, rosemary, ground black pepper, lemon zest and garlic.  Mix well and apply to the lamb.  Cover and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
2.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
3. Place lamb on a rack in a roasting pan and sprinkle with salt to taste.
4.  Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and roast for 55 to 60 more minutes for medium rare.  The internal temperature should be at least 145 degrees F (63 degrees C) when taken with a meat thermometer.  Let the roast rest for about 10 minutes before carving.