Many years ago, my wife and kids gave me a course in Roasting and Carving at Simpsons in the Strand for my birthday. It was truly and amazing experience and topped off by lunch for all of us where I carved for the table. Apart from learning to carve, one of the best things about the day was discovering Simpsons rub for all roasts. The rub comprises 2 parts of Colman’s mustard powder, 1 part of Maldon Sea Salt and 1 part of freshly ground black pepper. Simple huh? The rationale is that if you only serve good quality meat for a roast, them it doesn’t need anything else to hide the innate quality of the meat. I add garlic and fresh rosemary to mine because we all like it.
Ingredients
1 Leg of Lamb preferably from a good butcher
2 garlic cloves
2 stalks of rosemary
4 teaspoons of Simpson’s rub (2 parts mustard powder, 1 part Maldon sea salt, 1 part black pepper)
500ml of Lamb Stock (made from a knorr stockpot is ok)
1 teaspoon of dijon or wholegrain mustard
1 teaspoon of mint sauce
1 teaspoon of redcurrant jelly
half a glass of red wine
Method
Preheat the oven to 230 degrees C. Rinse and pat dry the leg of lamb with kitchen roll. stab the surface of the lamb with a sharp knife so you have a lot of 2cm deep knife holes in the lamb. Cut the garlic into little staves about the thickness of a toothpick. Push one of the staves of garlic and a leaf or two of rosemary into each knife hole. rub the whole of the leg of lamb with the rub so that it forms a light dusty crust. Drizzle with Olive Oil and put in the heated oven. The lamb will take 20 minutes per lb plus 20 minutes. After 15 minutes at 230 degrees, reduce the heat to 180 degrees for the duration.
Remove from the oven and rest on a carving board covered in foil for 30 mites before serving.
In the meantime, make the gravy.
Put the roasting dish with all the juices and bits from the cooking on a medium light on the stove. Pour the lamb stock into the roasting dish and with a wooden spoon, gently deglaze the bottom of the roasting dish by pushing and loosening the blackened bits and mixing them in to the stock. When this is bubbling and there is nothing stuck to the bottom any more, pour the gravy into a saucepan. There will now be a lot of fat/oil on top of the gravy. Allow this to settle for a few minutes and then, using kitchen roll, soak up the oil and discard. When all the surface oil has gone, add the wine, mustard, a teaspoon of mint sauce and redcurrant jelly as well as the anchovy and boil for about 5 -10 minutes. The anchovy has been my not so secret ingredient for years. Nowadays you can buy Umami paste in supermarkets, but the simple anchovy has been doing the job of enhancing those deep, meaty flavours for years. You won’t taste the anchovy, but you will sure as hell miss it when you don’t use it!
Now taste the gravy and adjust the seasoning or add water if required. Then mix the corn flour with a little water to make a very runny and lump free paste. Add this to the gravy to thicken. Serve with roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and veggies of your choice.