Yesterday was Sir’s 43d birthday and it just coincided with an old friend’s visit to France so I made leg of lamb.
It was a hectic day, as you can imagine, because Petit Prince was home from the crèche and the house (in it’s customary tipsy topple shape) needed to be cleaned from top to bottom.
I made a moelleux finally since I had just made brownies the other day. But at the moment when it should have come out of the oven, I was downstairs changing a very moelleux diaper (sorry!), and when I finally raced upstairs to take it out of the oven, I was greeted with billows of smoke.
Agh! I never burn anything! Okay, not entirely true, but it’s rare, and of course it would happen on Sir’s birthday and when we had guests. I overturned the cake to cool and the inside unceremoniously flopped over on the cooling rack leaving the burned bottom and edges glued to the pan.
Ah! So maybe it was edible now (that’s edible, all my french friends – not eatable). But there was still the burned top that I couldn’t remove or there would really be nothing left but a thin layer of moelleux insides. So I left it. And salvaged it – I think.
If you could get past the charred taste.
Here’s the lamb, called gigot d’agneau in French. « gee-go da-nyo »
I cut up some garlic slivers – lots, in fact. About 4 large cloves.
I cut holes in the lamb.
And stuffed the garlic in all the holes, and then salted and peppered it generously.
I ran out in the waning light (my pictures! The lighting!) to get some fresh thyme
and crumbled it all over.
I had preheated the oven to 425°F (200°C) til it was hot and put the lamb in covered with aluminum foil for about 45 minutes, and then cooked it another 15 minutes uncovered.
It was a 3 kilo lamb, which is about 6-7 pounds, and although it was quite good, at that weight it should have been cooked for an hour covered, and another 20-30 minutes uncovered. But it didn’t matter because French people can rip the meat off the bone completely raw, and Maurice and Victor were here in France to learn how to be French. So everyone had a good time.
To my very great chagrin, I had forgotten to take a picture of the final result – the roasted lamb! – because I was busy setting the table.
And making the flavored rice, gravy and green beans. And setting out the cheese.
But if I learned anything, it is that it’s extremely hard to prepare an elegant meal with small children around
much less blog about it.
- 3 kilo (7 lbs) leg of lamb, bone-in
- 4 cloves of garlic
- A few sprigs of thyme or 1 T dried
- 2 T olive oil
- 2 t salt
- 1t pepper
- Preheat the oven to 210° C or 425°F.
- Cut the garlic into slivers
- Cut holes all over the meat and shove the garlic into the holes.
- Pour the olive oil over the lamb.
- Sprinkle the thyme, salt and pepper over the lamb.
- Cook covered for 45 minutes and uncovered for another 25-30 minutes. The meat should be well done on the outside and pink on the inside.
Oh my goodness! All I would really need is the bread & cheese!
They look amazing!
m ^..^
So beautiful. I’d love to sit at that table and eat that meal. I’ll pass on the diaper moelleux, however.
I like the gee-go-da-nyo. Thanks for the french lesson. Please come by my place (blog) on Thursday as it will be a party for my one year blog anniversary. It would be so nice to have you. Please tell Sir, Happy Birthday for me.
Oh waa – can’t my darling friend. We’ll be on our way to the Loire Valley for our 10 year anniversary. I will come and stop by though. Kisses.
PS Heard you moved without even telling me so we can’t visit you at Christmas anymore.
Beautiful setting, and the food looked amazing {I could almost smell and taste it}.