Slow Roasted and Smoked with Rosemary

It feels like winter is about to set in here in the UK, summer lasted all of one week and my stomach is telling me it's time to bring back Roast Suppers! So this week i'm cooking a leg of lamb, unfortunately not spring lamb as we are slipping into autumn but this half a leg of Welsh Lamb is as good as it gets.

Ingredients

Leg of Lamb or half (serves 2-6)
10 cloves of garlic
Loads of Rosemary
Mixed vegetables to stir fry
Tastic rice mixed with wild rice

Method

Peal the cloves of garlic and leave whole
Wash and leave rosemary in sprigs
Take a sharp knife and push into the lamb to about 2-3cm
Push garlic into the cuts
Push rosemary into cuts on top of the garlic leave heads to poke out (looks great)
Cut all your veg up into julienne strips, as you are just going to stir fry these quickly with a little olive oil at the end. Two carrots, 6 asparagus, 1 courgettes , 12 mange too and t baby leeks. Make sure to put you rice on to cook and then to steam for at least 30 minutes (makes the rice fluffy and light) this will stop it being just a stodgy mess
Take the remainder of the rosemary and place in a tray that you can place under the leg of lamb, so that it smoulders and smokes it to perfection
Cook the lamb for about 3 hrs at 160°C (320°F) for half a leg, 4-5 hrs for a whole leg. The internal temp of the lamb should reach 82°C (180°F) for Medium, a bit higher if you want it well done or less for rare. I like mine rare so I took it out at 77°C (100°F). Tip, when you place your temperature probe into the meat, make sure it's not touching the bone as this will give you a false reading.
Make sure that you cover it and leave it to rest for at least 20 minutes, this always seems like to longest 20 minutes in history. Especially when it smells so great

It may sound like a load of garlic but when you slow roast it it mellows and just infuses a fantastic flavour throughout the lamb. Just don't eat the cloves when you cut the meat if you want anybody to come close to you later! Slow roasting and smoking the meat will give it such a fantastic colour and flavour, only cooking for 3hrs will mean that the smoke flavour is not to intense either.

Once you have taken the lamb off the braai and set it aside to rest for 20 minuets you can then start to stir fry your veg. You could have slow roasted them with the meat but I wanted them to be fresh and al dente, with vibrant colours to go along side the meat. They will only take 4-5 minutes to cook depending on how you like them. Taste one occasionally, perks of being the Chef!

Please make sure that you leave the meat to rest for 20 minutes, this will make all the deference between a nice bit of meat and a fantastic moist piece of meat. Its a long time to wait but its worth every minute. Carve into generous slices and serve on a bed of rice with vegetables and mint sauce, just look how simple and great it looks.

P.S. I did not season the meat or vegetables with salt or pepper as they just don't need it. Enjoy!