For Easter I had a boneless leg of lamb I wanted to make but didn’t quite know how I wanted to flavor it. Now Primal Palate has a delicious looking recipe but I didn’t have any thyme (which wasn’t a bold enough a flavor for me anyway), but Stacy does not approve of the practice of placing garlic cloves into meat, despite the fact that this is awesome and should be done by everyone. So, I changed up the approach and went with what I do have: a metric ton of mint.
So I pulled out my awesome recently purchased Spice Lover’s Guide to Herbs & Spices to come up with a flavor profile rub for the lamb. I grabbed a handful of my bountiful mint and made up a rub for it as follows.
- 1 large handful of mint leaves (a loosely packed cup)
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 C olive oil
- 2 Tbsp Paprika
- 1 Tbsp Black Peppercorns
- 2 Tbsp Cumin
- 1 Tbsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Cloves
- ♥ Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender
- ♥ Process this until it forms a paste (spice rubs like this are essentially pestos without the nuts)
- ♥ Smear the rub on both sides of the leg and then retie into a round shape with twine.
- Roast at 350 for about an hour (that’s about how long it took for my 3 pound leg to reach 140 degrees for medium-rare).
The result is simply fantastic and was gobbled up in no time at all! The kids especially loved the crusty fat surrounding the meat – yum!
Note, steps which have a heart symbol (♥) indicate how little handed sous chefts can provided you assistance!
