Today is Melbourne Cup Day, a horse race that stops the nation, and a great excuse for a BBQ. The meat of choice was a butterfly leg of lamb. The recipe of choice was lamb shawarma (Jerusalem).
The ingredient list is a long one. Black peppercorns, cloves, cardamon, fenugreek, fennel, cumin, star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, sweet paprika, sumac, sea salt, garlic, coriander, lemon juice and oil.
I dry roasted the whole spices, added the powered spices to warm through, then ground them into a powder using a spice grinder. Scored the lamb through the fat in a few spots, and massaged the spices now combined with the lemon, coriander and oil over the meat, marinating it over night.
Took the lamb out of the fridge, brought it to room temperature then slow roasted it for 2.5 hours in the Webber. Perhaps a little too long for the 1.5kg piece. Must get a thermometer to take the guess work out of cooking a perfectly cooked piece of meat!
The lamb was tender and juicy with great flavour. Served with crunchy duck fat roasted potatoes, a spring salad of fresh broad beans, asparagus and green beans (Plenty More), and a sour cherry, white cabbage and celeriac (replacing the out of season kohlrabi) salad (Plenty).
