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Recipe Provided By
Two Purple FigsPrep Time
50 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 55 minutes
Servings
8
Ingredients
Lamb
- 2 legs of American lamb
- 16 cloves of garlic
- 16 cardamom pods
- ⅓ cup whole peppercorns
Dry Spice blend
- 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons of Allspice powder
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoons of onion powder
- 1 tablespoons of garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons of Pepper flakes ( a blend of paprika and turkish spice pepper flakes)
- ¼ cup salt (divided) -Use mediterranean sea salt
- 3 tablespoons of cracked black pepper (divided)
Wet Blend
- ½ cup yogurt
- ¼ cup ketchup (if you can’t find turkish sweet pepper paste)
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup pomegranate molasses
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
To Roast
- 2 onions cut in half
- 2 heads of garlic cut in half
- 5 bay leaves
- 6 cinnamon sticks
- 6 cups stock (beef, chicken, veggie or lamb)
Directions
- Line your roasting pan with foil and then parchment paper.
- Use a sharp knife to cut 3-4 slits into the leg of lamb deep enough to fit a garlic clove and cardamom.
- Press down one garlic clove and one cardamom pod along with a few whole peppercorns into each slit.
- Press them well.
- Next, season the lamb lightly with salt and pepper.
- Mix the dry spice blend in a bowl and sprinkle the dry spices evenly over the lamb making sure to cover the sides and every possible part of the leg.
- In a deeper bowl or cup, mix the wet blend together.
- Pour the wet mix over the leg of lamb and use your hands to massage that well into the meat.
- Cover the lamb with a sheet of parchment paper and then foil.
- Marinade the lamb for 2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Before roasting, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Arrange the onions, garlic, whole spice and Bay leaves around the lamb.
- Pour the hot stock.
- Give the lamb a final seasoning with the remaining salt and pepper.
- Cover and roast for 1 hour before dropping the temperature to 400 degreesF.
- Roast the lamb for about 4-5 hours depending on the size/weight of the meat.
- On average each leg of lamb is about 6-9 pounds and each pound needs about 45 minutes of roasting.*
- Rotate the pan halfway and make sure to add more stock if needed.
- When ready, allow the meat to rest and cool before serving it with the pan juices.
- See serving suggestions and notes below.
