Leg of lamb and braaied sweet potato chips
Once you’ve got the hang of cooking a leg of lamb on the coals, you’ll never again want to do one in the oven.
Holiday cooking shouldn’t be a chore. It calls for freshly baked wholewheat bread with butter and apricot jam, chops drizzled with lemon juice, and jacket potatoes baked in the fire.
Once you’ve got the hang of cooking a leg of lamb on the coals, you’ll never again want to do one in the oven.
Leg of lamb and braaied sweet potato chips
You’ll need:
• a big leg of lamb (2 kg)
• one head of fresh garlic
• 7 sprigs fresh rosemary
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1⁄3 cup good red wine
• 1⁄3 cup lemon juice
• a dash of soya sauce
• 2 tablespoons garam masala (or ground cumin)
• a few spoons apricot jam
• 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 23 mm chips
Here’s how:
1. Here, Rover. Debone the leg so the meat is the same thickness all over.
2. Spike it. The leg has a fat side and a lean side. Using a thin, sharp knife, spike holes about 2 cm apart and about half a match length deep on the lean side. Cut a few cloves of garlic into tapered
wedges and push each one into a hole with a small sprig of rosemary. Brush the meat with olive oil and season it.
3. The sauce. Mix the rest of the olive oil, wine, lemon juice, soya sauce, garam masala and leftover garlic (chopped) and rosemary in a bowl for basting.
4. A slowburn. You need one layer of hot coals. Position the grid about a forearm’s length off the
coals. Put the leg on and cover it with a casserole lid. Turn it every five minutes and brush it with marinade.
5. Sweeten it. After half an hour, mix the apricot jam into the basting sauce and give the joint a lick. The meat should be ready after another 20 minutes or so, depending on how well done you like it.
6. Chips! In the meantime, paint the chips with olive oil and put them on the grid. Turn them often. They should take about 12 minutes – test it with a fork. Sprinkle over some garam masala.
Other recipes to try out:
Lamb and feta burgers
Spicy lamb potjie
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