By Mark Bittman
- Total Time
- About 2 hours, largely unattended
- Rating
- 4(73)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This spring lamb offering is coated with an oil-based paste. The oil serves to give the lamb’s crust a beautiful glossy appearance and helps infuse it with an herbal scent. You first make a pesto-like purée with a little oil, a lot of dill and parsley, a couple of cloves of garlic and a few anchovies. (The anchovies are optional but I believe invaluable.) Rub this herb paste all over the lamb and roast. When the lamb is done, and its flavorful fat has combined with the herbed oil that has run into the bottom of the pan, you use some of this fat to brown some bread crumbs, which become insanely delicious, and then to sauté a pile of fresh spinach. Voilà: a main dish, a side dish and a crunchy garnish, all in one. It’s a meal fit for a celebration, whether religious or secular.
Don't know how to carve a lamb? Mark Bittman shows you how in this video.
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Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 15-to-7-pound leg of lamb, preferably at room temperature, shank removed if necessary
- ½cup chopped fresh parsley
- ½cup chopped fresh dill
- 3tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4anchovies, optional
- 2cloves garlic, peeled
- Salt
- 2cups coarse bread crumbs, preferably fresh
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2tablespoons pine nuts
- 2tablespoons raisins or currants
- 1pound spinach, chopped
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
750 calories; 47 grams fat; 18 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 20 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 25 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 55 grams protein; 1027 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Heat the oven to 425º. Remove as much of the surface fat as is practical from the lamb. Combine the parsley, dill, oil, anchovies and garlic in a food processor (if you’re not using the anchovies, add some salt). Purée, adding a little water if necessary. Rub the lamb with this mixture.
Step
2
Put the lamb on a rack in a roasting pan with about ½ cup of water. Roast for 30 minutes, then check; if the lamb threatens to burn, turn the heat down to 350º; otherwise leave it at 425º. If the bottom dries out (the rendering lamb fat should keep it moist), add a little more water. After about 1 hour (total), check the internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer. When it reaches 130 for medium rare (125 for very rare) in its thickest part (check it in several places), it’s done. Total cooking time will be less than 1½ hours. Remove and let it rest.
Step
3
Pour off and reserve all but 2 tablespoons of the fat and put the pan over a burner (or two, if it fits better). Toast the bread crumbs over low heat, stirring and seasoning with salt and pepper until they’re lightly browned. Remove; add another couple of tablespoons of the fat to the pan. Add the pine nuts, raisins and spinach and cook over high heat, stirring frequently, until the spinach is very tender and most of the liquid has evaporated. Carve the lamb and serve it on a bed of spinach, sprinkled with the bread crumbs.
Ratings
4
out of 5
73
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Cooking Notes
Wendy
Thank you Mr. Bittman for a super easy, delicious lamb prep. The spinach with the addition of currants and pine nuts was the perfect veg, sharing the drippings along with quartered new potatoes roasted in the pan under the lamb, tossed with a bit of the rub, continuing to brown while lamb rested and the spinach put together.
The Clean Plate Club sends cudos!
SLC Cook
Coating for lamb delicious. Warning: a 5 lb. leg took longer than 1.5 hours roasted at 425 deg. for 40 minutes and 350 deg. for 50 minutes.
Cathleen
I am a big fan of Mark Bittman, but to me there was a bit too much going on in this recipe. The lamb came out fine, but to my taste would have been a bit better off without the breadcrumbs and - dare I say it - anchovies. My leg was only 5 lbs., perhaps I should have scaled back to 3 anchovies since I keep hearing that they take lamb to the next level when used in a marinade. Next Easter I will most likely go back to my tried and true rosemary lamb recipe.
Wendy
Thank you Mr. Bittman for a super easy, delicious lamb prep. The spinach with the addition of currants and pine nuts was the perfect veg, sharing the drippings along with quartered new potatoes roasted in the pan under the lamb, tossed with a bit of the rub, continuing to brown while lamb rested and the spinach put together.
The Clean Plate Club sends cudos!
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