Stephanie Alexander’s Spanish Lamb

I really should use Stephanie Alexander’s ‘The Cook’s Companion’ more often.  It’s so useful! This afternoon I was looking for inspiration for cooking a leg of lamb I had for dinner.  I haven’t used ‘The Cooks Companion’ for meat before,  which is , frankly, stupid because there is loads of info on cuts and cooking methods and, of course, recipes.

The marinade I picked out was the ‘spanish style marinating paste for lamb‘

1 tbsp fresh thyme or basil (I used basil from my garden)
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Spanish sweet smoked paprika
juice of one large lemon

Roughly chop thyme and garlic, then, using a mortar or pestle (I did!!) or a food processor, grind all ingredients to a paste. To use, rub paste well into lamb then drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and grind on plenty of pepper.  Leave for 1 hour before grilling or roasting.

I was a little concerned that the lamb was a bit dry looking so added a squirt more lemon juice and the two lemon halves halfway through the roasting. The marinade is *tasty*, with the flavours combining into a sum that seems more than its parts. The marinade also provides a bit of a crust on the lamb and a most amazing sauce/gravy in the bottom of the pan.

We ate the lamb with steamed broccoli and couscous.  First serving was a little dry,  but I ladeled the delicious gravy over my small seconds and  that made all the difference.