Lamb Roast!

One of the simplest ways for me to feed a crowd of guests has always been to throw a giant chunk of animal into the oven and let it roast away. Generally this require little active hands on time and allows me to kick back, chatting with guests, while something spectacular is being made. It doesn't hurt that mouth watering smells will drift out from the kitchen while you wait, whetting the guests' appetites. This is a personal favorite of mine. I am not a big beef eater. For red meat, I generally prefer something like lamb instead. This produces a lovely roast with little to no gamey-ness. When slicing, try to get a little bit of the crust into every slice. Its meant to be extra salty to give it a little contrast with the milder meat beneath.

Garlic Rosemary Crusted Lamb Roast

1 5 lb lamb leg butt roast (no this isn't what you think! its just the upper part of the lamb leg which has more meat than the ankle bit)
10 - 15 cloves garlic
4 tsp dried rosemary
4 tsp salt (be generous with this)
2 cups rough cubed root vegetable (any will do. I used celeric above. Its really there just to give the neat a little room above the pan to allow for better hot air circulation)

Take roast out 30 mins before cooking to let it warm up to room temp. Cut off best as you can (no need to be a surgeon about this!) all the fat and silver skin. Using a tiny food processor, mortar & pestle, or teeny blender cut/mash the garlic, rosemary, and salt together into a gritty paste. Smear paste all over the roast. stick roast on top of veggies in pan. Set oven to 450F. By the time your oven comes up to temp the roast should be nicely warmed up. Stick the whole thing in the oven for 30 minutes. Turn oven down to 350F. Roast for another 45 - 60 minutes checking for the roast to come up to about 130F - 140F with a meat thermometer and depending on how rare you like your meat. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before carving and serving. In the meantime I like to scrape out the root veggies from under the roast and puree them with a bit of beef stock into a nice mash to serve along with some salad or greens.