This honey mustard roasted leg of lamb with root vegetables will impress everyone – they don’t need to know how incredibly easy it is to throw together! Slowly roasted in the oven until meltingly tender, it is perfect for Easter Sunday.
Easter celebrations are pretty big in Greece where I grew up and lamb is an absolute MUST on Easter Sunday. This lamb was usually spit-roasted with everyone taking a turn to turn lamb over the coals. It takes about half a day to cook – or it did in the days of DIY spit roasting at least.
Spit-roasted lamb is amazingly tasty – not that I appreciated that as a child. I think I only ate the countless other dishes which were made for the Easter feast, tuning my nose up at the lamb. It has been many years since I tasted spit-roasted lamb – it was included in my wedding spread by my parents (who basically organised it – I wasn’t a controlling bride!).
These days I am finally a big fan of lamb and the blog is a testament to that. This Greek Lamb Kleftiko recipe is climbing the charts on Supergolden Bakes to become one of my most popular recipes.
I hope that this honey mustard roasted leg of lamb with root vegetables is also given a chance by you lovely readers! It is such a stupidly easy recipe, everything thrown into one roasting tray and then slowly cooked in the oven.
First the leg of lamb is covered with a honey and Dijon mustard rub, which will pack on the flavour and create a lovely crust once cooked. The vegetables are added to the roasting tray and given a 20 minute hot blast in the oven. Then stock and wine are added to the roasting tray and everything is allowed to cook low and slow.
During the time the lamb cooks you could be getting on with making a salad – or having a glass of wine and enjoying the incredible aroma of the roast while it cooks. After all you will have quite a bit of wine leftover with this recipe 😉
To make sure you end up with the very best roast possible, it would be best to go by a digital thermometer or probe rather than go by recommended cooking time. Once the internal temperature reaches 60°C (140°F) you can take the roast out of the oven and let it rest for at least 20 minutes.
Don’t, whatever you do, serve the roast without resting it first – you will end up with tough meat, when it should be meltingly tender. The pan juices would be suitable to turn into a gravy, but the roast really doesn’t need it.
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Honey mustard roasted leg of lamb with root vegetables
Ingredients
- 2.5 kg (5 1/2 lb) leg of lamb
- 900 g (2lb) red-skinned potatoes, quartered
- 450 g (1lb) carrots, sliced
- 450 g (1lb) parsnips, sliced
- 4 red onions peeled and quartered
- 1 garlic bulb halved
- 1 lemon halved
- 240 ml (1 cup) white wine
- 240 ml (1 cup) lamb or beef stock
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp dried mixed Mediterranean herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano)
- Couple of sprigs fresh thyme or rosemary
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Mix the mustard, honey and herbs together in a bowl.
- Pat your lamb dry with kitchen paper, rub with the honey mustard and season liberally with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Let your marinated leg of lamb sit at room temperature for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
- Place all the chopped vegetables, garlic and lemon in a deep roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the thyme sprigs.
- Place the lamb on a rack and rest over the vegetables.
- Cook for 20 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F). Pour the wine and stock into the roasting tin.
- Cook for another hour and 20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the lamb registers at 60°C (140°F) on a meat thermometer.
- Remove from the oven and transfer the lamb on a platter, loosely covered with foil, to rest for 20 minutes.
- Check the vegetables are all cooked through, if not return to the oven while lamb is resting. Once done, squeeze some of the roasted lemon over the vegetables.
- Arrange the vegetables on a serving tray. Carve the meat and serve on top of the vegetables.
Nutritional Info
EJ says
Will the lamb come out rare or medium with this cooking method? This looks delicious.
Lucy Parissi says
Medium rare – but the best way to control this would be to check with a digital thermometer. Things like the thickness of the cut and your oven might affect how it cooks.
Kate - Gluten Free Alchemist says
What a delicious Easter lunch….. perfect x
Albert Bevia says
I love the combination of honey and mustard, this dish looks devine
Karly says
This looks divine! Love that its so easy too! Thanks for sharing!