Roast lamb with anchovy cream
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:
- Cook:
- plus resting
- Easy
- Serves 6-8
Ingredients
- 2kg leg of lamb
- 6 garlic cloves, 4 sliced, 2 crushed
- 16 anchovies in oil, drained and halved
- 50g butter, at room temperature
- 175ml dry white wine
- 2 small rosemary sprigs
- 50ml extra virgin olive oil
- 150ml double cream
- boiled new potatoes and steamed greens, to serve (optional)
Method
- STEP 1
Heat the oven to 240C/220C fan/gas 9. Put the leg of lamb in a roasting tin that it fits into snugly – you don’t want a lot of room around the meat. Make about 20 small incisions all over the lamb using a sharp knife, then pack each cut with the sliced garlic, an anchovy half and butter.
- STEP 2
Roast for 20 mins, then reduce the temperature to 200C/180C fan/gas 6, add the wine and rosemary and roast for another 50 mins, spooning the juices over the lamb every so often.
- STEP 3
Transfer the lamb to a serving platter, cover with foil and insulate with towels or return to the oven, leaving the door slightly ajar. Leave to rest for 15-20 mins.
- STEP 4
Finely chop the remaining anchovies and heat the olive oil in a medium frying pan. Cook the anchovies and crushed garlic over a low heat, pressing the anchovies with the back of a spoon so they dissolve. Remove from the heat and quickly whisk in the cream so the mixture emulsifies. Season with pepper. Gently warm through the anchovy cream, but don’t boil it.
- STEP 5
Skim any fat from the roasting tin and discard, leaving the juices behind. Carve the lamb and spoon over some of the roasting juices. Serve with potatoes and greens, if using, and a jug of the anchovy cream on the side.
