Herb and Garlic Roasted Leg of Lamb

I can't believe that in all my years of cooking I've never attempted to make a leg of lamb.  I mean, I've eaten lamb and I love it but for some reason I thought it would be really complicated.  Turns out it's just another roast, easy.

Lamb can be a little pricey which is probably why it's reserved for holiday's most of the time.  This roast was slightly less than 5 pounds but we had plenty leftover.  Keeping in mind that it was just two of us eating this size roast.

This was our Christmas dinner and I'm happy to say that I will most likely repeat this again next Christmas.  It was a wonderful change to the typical ham or turkey and equally easy to prepare.

There's a lot of rubbing of seasonings and such, you really want every surface covered.

Doesn't that look amazing?!

I used the pan drippings to make a pan gravy as well.  Use a chicken broth so the taste of the lamb still comes through.

My mouth is watering,  I might need to make this again on a regular basis.

Herb and Garlic Roasted Leg of Lamb
Recipe found at About.com

Ingredients

• About 5lb leg of lamb
• juice of one lemon, about 2 Tbsp
• 1 to 2 cloves of garlic, cut into slivers
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 to 2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

1. Rinse the leg of lamb in cold water and dry with a towel. 
2. Cover the roast with lemon juice, use your hands to rub it all over. 
3. Make tiny slits into the fatty side of the leg and push a sliver of garlic into each cut. 
4. Mix the minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper together and rub into the meat.  Use your hands to thoroughly cover the roast. 
5. Put the roast on a roasting rack and put into a preheated 325 degree oven for 25-30 minutes per pound. 
6. Cook until a meat thermometer reads 145 to 165 depending on how done you like it.  
7. I roasted mine to about 155, as seen in the photo's above.