There are days I crave the aroma of roasting lamb: savory, herb-laden waves promising a mouthwatering supper. This recipe is a daylong endeavor, but it requires very little actual work. You can make this recipe with any large cut of lamb, like a shoulder or a rack. Don’t scrunch your nose at the anchovies; they’ve been used by Mediterranean cooks in lieu of salt for ages. They don’t taste fishy in this dish—when mixed with the other ingredients, they melt away, creating a savory, rich juice.
Ingredients
- One 7-pound leg of lamb, bone-in; ask your butcher to
- remove the aitch (pronounced “h”) bone to aid carving
- 12 garlic cloves
- 20 whole black peppercorns
- ½ cup kalamata olives
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 whole anchovies
- ¼ cup fresh rosemary leaves
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- Fine sea salt
How to Make It
- Temper the lamb for 90 minutes and place it in a large roasting pan.
- Marinate the lamb while it tempers: combine the garlic, peppercorns, olives, olive oil, anchovies, rosemary, thyme, Dijon mustard, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until the mixture forms a thick paste.
- Make four or five diagonal slashes, each 1 to 2 inches deep, in the lamb and rub the mixture all over the flesh, pressing it into the crevices.
- While the lamb finishes tempering, preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Roast the lamb until brown, about 25 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and cook the lamb for another 6 hours.
- Remove the lamb from the oven, cover it with aluminum foil, and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Slice and serve.
