Monday, April 19, 2021

Easter lamb braai

We do a traditional Easter meal every year and daughter Clare joins us for dinner. This year, we had a deboned leg of lamb, so it went into John's amazing marinade the day before. It’s an easy recipe with soy, red wine, lots of garlic and fresh lavender and/or rosemary. You can see it after the photographs. The lavender adds an unusual and delicious flavour

Getting the coals hot in our ancient Weber

and sunset over the sea with a long, long tanker passing by

Coals ready, lamb on

This does not take long to cook and with the different thicknesses everyone can have their favourite 'doneness'
we do like pink lamb

Timed to perfection, ready for carving. It does rather look like a map of Africa!

And the final plate. Lynne made duck fat roast potatoes, steamed broccoli, carrots, courgettes, minted baby peas and a good gravy. The wines served were De Wetshof 2017 Bon Vallon Chardonnay, crisp and elegant, which went well with our starter of Chicken liver pâté with almonds and Amaretto. The best wine for the lamb was the 2011 Saronsberg Shiraz; soft and supple and spicy

It was a lovely summer evening and we ate on our deck

The Recipe:

Braaied Butterflied Leg of Lamb

Ask the butcher to debone the leg (or do it yourself) so that there are two half legs, joined in the middle, with fat on one side only. Place the meat in a large bowl and prepare a marinade of

Half cup Olive Oil
Half cup Soy Sauce
1 cup red wine Vinegar, Red Wine or Verjuice
Grated peel and juice of 1 Lemon
6-8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Several sprigs of Lavender or Rosemary

Chop the lavender/rosemary leaves, having stripped them off the stalks. Whip the oil and soy sauce and the other ingredients. Pour the marinade over both sides of the meat, and cover the dish. Marinate for ± 12 hours with the cut side down, turning it occasionally to ensure that the marinade penetrates evenly.

Light the fire, and, just before the flames have completely died, put the meat on the grid, cut side down, to sear for 5-10 minutes.

Turn the meat over, and leave it fat side down, with the lid on the Weber, for ± 30 minutes for a small leg and ± 45 minutes for a larger leg. Baste the leg occasionally with the marinade (More frequently over an open fire).

SERVING – (Use a razor-sharp knife)

Cut the meat down the middle into two “fillets” and carve each one from the meat side toward the fat into very thin slices. The thick parts will be rare, becoming more well-done as the meat becomes thinner.

Serve as you would roast beef

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