Jacques Pepin's Lamb by Tom

UPDATED 2020
This is a really good leg of lamb recipe!

If you enjoy lamb, which we do, this recipe, found in Jacques Pepin's cookbook "Chez Jacques", is a real keeper. In fact I made it a second time in less than two weeks and am now sharing this recipe for the blog. The only difference between the first and second time that I made it was boneless leg of lamb versus bone in. Both came out wonderfully. So good in fact that David joined us for both dinners

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page 170-171: even though the recipe actually called for a boneless leg of lamb, his picture has the bone in.  Hence my willingness to experiment with it both ways.

      ---Tom

Grilled Spicy Leg of Lamb
(from Jacques Pepin's cookbook)

Serves 6-8

4-5 pound small leg of lamb - bone in or boneless - your preference

Marinade

1/3 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce or sriracha hot sauce

3/4 cup water used during roasting

The day before:

Trim as much of the visible fat and silver skin from the lamb.  Make a number of small slits all over the leg of lamb with the point of a sharp knife.

In a small bowl, mix all of the marinade ingredients together, except the water. 

Once mixed, pour into a large Ziploc plastic bag.  Place the trimmed leg of lamb in the bag and squish (technical term) the marinade all over it.  Place in the refrigerator and marinate over night.  Turn the bag over a few times just to insure the marinade reaches all areas of the lamb.

Cooking and Eating Day:

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees.

Preheat a grill, or grill pan on your stove. 

Transfer the lamb and the marinade to a roasting pan.  Add 3/4 cup water to the marinade and mix in.

Scrape off as much of the marinade from the lamb as practical back into the roasting pan and place the lamb on the heated grill grates.  Brown on each side for just a couple of minutes.  This will seal in the juices

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After grilling, transfer the lamb from the grill back into your roasting pan with the marinade.   This then goes into the 275 degree oven and cooks for about an hour and fifteen minutes.  The lamb will be between rare and medium rare.  Cook a little longer if you like it medium or more.  You can use a meat thermometer to determine how well cooked the leg of lamb is.  I cooked ours to about 140 degrees internal temperature.

Transfer the lamb to a cutting board and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Slice into roughly 1/2" thick pieces.

I served the lamb with wild rice and buttered Brussels sprouts. 

The marinade adds a nice flavor to the lamb.  I will make this again  ...  and again!

    ---Tom