Roast Leg Of Lamb -- The Hash That Earns Its Place

The week between Christmas and New Year's. The family has gone home — Sarah and Jim on the twenty-seventh, Frank and Barbara on the twenty-eighth, Carol back to Stowe. The house has returned to quiet. The Christmas tree is still up. The spare bedroom still smells of the people who slept in it. Finn's drawing of the farm is on the refrigerator, a new one this year: the sugar house at the center, smoke coming from the chimney, labeled "SUGAR HOUSE" in large letters with a small figure beside it that is, apparently, me.

Made the leftover lamb into a hash with celery root and potatoes from the cellar, the whole thing browned in a cast iron pan. Ate it for two days. The leftover meal is sometimes better than the original. The lamb hash earned its position. I've been eating well through the week — the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving two weeks ago already became soup, and now this. The good cooking sustains itself past the meal it was made for.

New Year's Eve is Friday. I'll make a proper dinner, open the Burgundy I've been keeping, stay up to midnight or close enough to midnight that the difference doesn't matter. 2022 was a good year. The blog post that went wide. Bill visiting the farm. Teddy's beef wellington. Finn's toast at Thanksgiving that became his contribution to every table. Carol's apartment in Stowe now fully home. These are the things a year is made of: not the dramatic events but the accumulations, the things that added and continued and deepened.

The hash I made from the Christmas lamb — celery root, potatoes from the cellar, all of it browned hard in the cast iron — started with a proper roast leg. You can’t get two good days out of leftovers unless the original was worth having, and this one was. If you’re going to cook for a table of people and then eat well alone afterward, this is the roast to build that week around.

Roast Leg of Lamb

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 bone-in leg of lamb, 6–7 lbs
• 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lemon, zested and halved
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken or lamb stock
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Bring to room temperature. Remove the lamb from the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting. Pat it thoroughly dry with paper towels.
2. Stud with garlic and herbs. Using a small sharp knife, cut 1-inch slits all over the leg. Press a slice of garlic and a pinch of rosemary into each slit.
3. Make the rub. Combine the olive oil, Dijon, lemon zest, thyme, remaining rosemary, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub this mixture all over the surface of the lamb, coating it evenly.
4. Preheat the oven. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
5. Build the roasting base. Scatter the onion, carrots, and celery in the bottom of a heavy roasting pan. Pour in the wine and stock. Set a rack over the vegetables and place the lamb on the rack.
6. Sear in the oven. Roast at 425°F for 20 minutes, until the surface is well browned and beginning to crust.
7. Reduce and continue. Lower the oven temperature to 350°F (175°C) and continue roasting for approximately 1 hour 20 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted at the thickest part reads 130°F for medium-rare, 140°F for medium.
8. Rest the meat. Transfer the lamb to a cutting board and tent loosely with foil. Let it rest at least 20 minutes before carving — this is not optional.
9. Make a pan sauce. Set the roasting pan over medium heat on the stovetop. Squeeze the lemon halves into the pan juices, scraping up any browned bits. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and serve alongside.
10. Carve and serve. Slice the lamb against the grain in long, even strokes. Serve with the pan sauce. Reserve any remaining meat for hash the following day.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 48g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 4g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 480mg