Anna Hansen’s roast leg of lamb

"The marinade for this lamb is something my Aunty Soss taught me (Soss for sausage, although her name is actually Sonja... don't ask!). She calls it legless lamb, which I hasten to add is not a reference to the condition of the beast it came from, although the irony is hard to escape!"

On MSN Food: read our interview with Anna Hansen

"Soss would rest a boned leg of lamb in this marinade overnight then grill it on the barbeque. On arrival guests were served a delicious but potent G&T with a slice of sweet Meyer lemon from her garden along with 'nibbles' which is what Soss terms anything that is crisp enough to be piled with a topping or scooped through bowls of dip more or less intact. This was followed by other tasty morsels served with plenty of perfectly chilled white wine and ice-cold beer. Eventually the lamb and vegetables would be served, usually cooked to perfection but sometimes just a little too charred or more than a little undercooked depending on whether she had forgotten to take them off the barbeque or put them on! Hence the title, legless lamb."

Ingredients:

For the lamb:

2.5kg leg of lamb
1 carrot
1 celery stick
1 onion
A few garlic cloves
250ml white wine
Maldon salt or other flaky sea salt
Black pepper
Cox's Apple, Sour Cherry and Fennel Chutney or Tomato Relish to serve

For the marinade:
200g natural yoghurt
80ml olive oil
1½ tbsp finely chopped preserved lemon zest, or grated fresh lemon zest
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp chopped thyme
3 tsp cumin seeds, toasted in a dry frying pan and then ground
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp salt (3 if using fresh lemon zest)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried chilli flakes

For the potatoes:
12 small to medium potatoes, peeled
1½ tsp nigella (black onion) seeds
2 tsp Urfa chilli flakes
2 tsp chopped rosemary
6 garlic cloves, sliced
Slosh of vegetable oil

For the carrots:
6 sweet carrots, quartered lengthways, cores removed if woody
1 tsp finely chopped fresh turmeric (or ½ tsp ground turmeric)
A handful of fresh curry leaves
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the parsnips:
6 parsnips, quartered lengthways, cores removed if woody
1 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp finely chopped fresh turmeric (or ½ tsp ground turmeric)
A handful of fresh curry leaves
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Serves 6

Method:

1. Trim the excess fat and membrane from the leg of lamb. With a sharp paring knife, pierce the flesh all over. Mix all the marinade ingredients together and smother the leg of lamb in it, making sure you rub the marinade into the cuts in the flesh and any other natural crevices. Place the lamb in a plastic food bag with the marinade and leave in the fridge for at least six hours, ideally for 24 hours.
2. Make a vegetable trivet by roughly chopping the carrot, celery, onion and garlic and placing them in a roasting dish that will hold the lamb snugly. Put the lamb on top of this, add the white wine and a slosh of water and place in an oven preheated to 225C/Gas Mark 7. Roast for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C/Gas Mark 4 and roast for another 40 minutes to one hour, depending on how pink you like your meat, basting with the pan juices as you go.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the other vegetables. Parboil the potatoes, then drain them in a colander and toss about a few times to make the outsides fluffy. Mix with the onion seeds, Urfa flakes, rosemary, garlic and an extra generous slosh of oil. You probably don't want to hear this but in my experience the more generous the slosh, the more abundant the golden crispy bits. I'll leave it to you. Season liberally, then put in the oven with the lamb and roast for 30-35 minutes, turning from time to time, until golden and crisp.
4. Toss all the ingredients for the carrots together in a roasting tin, season with salt and pepper and put into the oven with the lamb, cooking for about 35 minutes, until tender and golden. Do the same for the parsnips, but they take a little less time to cook so put them in 10 minutes later.
5. When the lamb is cooked to your liking, remove it from the oven, cover loosely with foil and leave somewhere warm to rest for 15 minutes or so. You can make a gravy, if you like, with the pan juices from the lamb. Or don't. I have never been very good at that! Just strain them as they are into a jug and skim off the excess fat. Slice the lamb and arrange with the roast vegetables and maybe something green if you fancy it. Serve with the chutney or relish.

More Antipodean chef recipes on MSN Food:

• Peter Gordon's spinach and feta tortilla recipe
• Matt Follas' chocolate fondant recipe
• Annabel Langbein's goat's cheese and spinach soufflé recipe

On Ciao: Recipe books
On Bing: Chef's recipes

More on MSN Food:

• Top 10 cookbooks you should buy
• Gino D'Acampo's pesto lasagne recipe
• 10 delicious smoothie recipes to try at home

Share this story with friends and family, join MSN Food on Facebook

Be the first to see the latest news, features and what we're up to at MSN Food,follow MSN Food on Twitter