Anniversary Lamb

Some of you may know my girlfriend of five years, Kate. Shortly after we started going out, I decided to take a shot at impressing her. So the first time I had her over to my old apartment for dinner, I made a leg of lamb. Cut the bone out, butterfly it a little, slather some paste in there for bonus flavor, tie it back up, sear, bake, serve.

So this past weekend, we celebrated our fifth anniversary by cooking for each other. She made grilled chicken thighs with buffalo sauce -- very good and that'll be another post. Me, I went back to that lamb.

We actually had to hit an alternate grocery store; the one we usually go to isn't big enough to carry rare items like lamb legs. Here's what 7.15 pounds of leg of lamb looks like, should you try to bludgeon someone with it.



I cut the one pound leg bone out, put it in a freezer bag. I'll boil that for soup at some point. Also, in the butterflying process, I had to trim off 2 pounds of meat that I couldn't reattach, so it went in another freezer bag to be turned into burgers at a later date. So that left 4 pounds to hit the grill. A combination of garlic, dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and a little oil, slathered on the inside and rolled up, secured with cotton twine. (Okay cotton/polyester. Just make sure it's not nylon. Or jute. Eurgh.) Sorry I couldn't show the butchering process. My hands were a lot messy. But here's what's awaiting me on indirect coals:



Ten minutes, roll it, ten minutes, roll it, ten minutes, roll it, let it go until the inside temperature reaches 135. Or what you hope is 135, because my probe thermometer is on the fritz.



If it's not done, just pull it off the grill, pull the grill off the coals, and shove them all in the middle for some direct heat. Toss a box of rosemary on there too for some extra flavor.



LET IT REST. For the love of God and all that is holy, rest your meat before you tear it into small bits to devour! This was served with bacon grease dinner rolls -- stay tuned.