Roasted Leg of Lamb in White Wine
A roast leg of lamb in white wine with potatoes and lots of garlic is the centerpiece on any serious Easter table in Romania and many other parts of the world.
Servings: 4 -6
Calories: 1136kcal
Ingredients
- 1 leg of lamb about 2 kg/ 4.4 pounds
- 6 large garlic cloves
- 1 bottle white wine See note 1
- 1 cup warm water 250 ml
- 3-4 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 2.2 lbs new potatoes small, 1 kg
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Prepare lamb: Wash the leg of lamb very thoroughly and dry it with kitchen paper. Make some deep slits into the meat using a small, sharp knife. Cut the garlic cloves into slivers and stuck these slivers into the slits in the meat. Rub the leg of lamb all over with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Place into a lightly oiled, large roasting tray, place the rosemary sprigs and the bay leaves around the meat, and pour about 250 ml/ 1 cup of the white wine and the warm water into the tin. Cover the tin loosely with aluminum foil.
- Roast the leg of lamb, taking care that the liquid doesn't evaporate completely. If that happens, keep adding white wine to the tray from time to time. Also, don't forget to baste the meat with the liquid every 15 minutes or so.
- Roasting time: After 30 minutes (1), turn the leg on the other side, cover again with the foil, and continue roasting for another 15 minutes (2)
- Potatoes: In the meantime, clean the potatoes very thoroughly. You don't have to peel them. Cut the potatoes in half.
- Flip: After the 15 minutes mentioned above, turn the leg of lamb again, place the potatoes around the meat and continue baking, covered with the foil for another 30 minutes (3).
- Remove the foil and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes (4) more or until it has a nice color and the potatoes are soft.
- Tip: Romanian people generally like their meat well cooked, so if you want the meat to be pink, cook it according to the internal temperatures listed in the blog post and in Notes.
- Let rest: Take the roast out of the oven, cover loosely with foil and let rest for about 10 minutes. Serve with the potatoes and other sides.
Notes
- You will start with 250 ml/ 1 cup of white wine added to the tray at the beginning of the cooking process. You will add more as required during the roasting time, but you will not need the entire bottle of wine:
- Internal temperature for lamb:
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 1136kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 90g | Fat: 62g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 33g | Cholesterol: 310mg | Sodium: 437mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 3g