Easter Sunday’s roast lamb provided us with two meals, Provencal style leg of lamb and moussaka several days later. The leg of lamb we served was half of the leg, the shank end cut, which is the thigh from the hind leg. It is leaner and easier to carve than the butt end and makes for a more attractive presentation. The recipe, from the current issue of Fine Cooking magazine called for the lamb to be prepped the night before with a Provencal style rub and studded with garlic slivers. Herbes de Provence is a blend of dried herbs, common to the south of France. I found that no two herb combinations were in total concurrence, some had five herbs, others as many as nine. The one thing they all have in common is dried lavender. It is important to note that you should look for culinary lavender, there are many on-line sources, be certain not to use lavender from a garden center or florist that might be treated with pesticides. I had dried lavender from plants we grew from seed so I knew the quality would be better than something I might purchase.
Our approximately five and a half pound roast left me with a pound of leftover meat, we did have roast chicken and salmon on the menu as well. So the next challenge was to find an interesting recipe to use it in. A search for “leftover lamb” took me to a recipe for Moussaka Gratinee. I make moussaka quite often in the summer when we have an abundance of eggplants in the garden. Moussaka, a dish of Middle Eastern origins, is most often associated with Greek cuisine. It is usually a layered casserole of eggplant, beef or lamb, potatoes, tomatoes and topped with a Bechamel sauce. The recipe I chose baked the moussaka in individual ramekins, but I chose to make it in one casserole dish. A great way to use lamb leftovers with enough for lunch the next day.
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Herbes de Provence Roast Leg of Lamb with Roasted Potatoes
adapted slightly from the Fine Cooking Website
Ingredients
- 1 5 1/2-lb bone-in shank half of a leg of lamb
- 3 cloves garlic sliced into 1/8 inch slivers
- 1 T herbes de Provence (I use the Penzey blend)
- 1 T crushed dried lavender
- 1 T coarse ground black pepper
- 3 lbs small red potatoes, cut in half
- 2 T olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- The night before-pat lamb dry with paper towels. With a sharp paring knife, make 2 inch deep slits all over the fat layer of the roast. Insert a sliver of garlic in each slit. Sprinkle roast with herbes de Provence, lavender and cracked black pepper. Cover and refrigerate.
- The next day-remove roast from refrigerator let sit at room temperature for at least one hour before cooking. Position rack in the center of the oven and heat oven to 375F.
- Toss potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread in the bottom of a roasting pan.
- Sprinkle the lamb with salt and place on top of potatoes in the roasting pan. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the leg, away from the bone, reads 135°F to 140°F for medium rare, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Transfer roast to a serving platter, tent loosely with foil and rest for 20 minutes. Keep potatoes warm in the turned-off oven. Carve roast and serve with potatoes around it.
Personal Notes: Additional vegetables could be added to the roasting pan such as carrots, fennel, sweet onion, just cut the same size as the potatoes.
Moussaka Gratinee
adapted from the Fine Cooking website
Ingredients
- 8 cups peeled trimmed eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch dice
- Kosher salt
- 1/4 c olive oil
- 2 c finely chopped onion
- l lb trimmed lamb cut into 1/2 inch dice
- 2 cloves finely minced garlic
- 1 T tomato paste
- 1 T freshly grated nutmeg
- Sea salt
- 1/2 c beef stock
- 3 T chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
- 1 1/2 c milk or cream
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- pinch of ground mace
- 2T unsalted butter
- 2 T All-purpose flour
- 1 large egg separated
- 1 1/2 c cheese such as Pecorino Romano
Directions
- Put eggplant cubes in a colander set over a bowl, sprinkle with Kosher salt and set aside to drain for about 30 minutes.
- In a large skillet, heat 2 T olive oil over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
- Raise heat to medium high and add the lamb until it browns slightly, 5 minutes. Lower the heat and add garlic, tomato paste, nutmeg, and 1 t sea salt. Add beef broth and stir to deglaze the pan, 5 minutes. Cook until liquid is slightly reduced, 2 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with fresh ground pepper. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Dry the eggplant on paper towels. Heat remaining olive oil over medium high heat. Add eggplant, stirring frequently until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°F and position the rack in the center.
- Stir the eggplant into the lamb mixture, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Transfer the mixture to a large gratin dish.
- Put the milk or cream into a 2 quart saucepan with the bay leaf and mace. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover, and infuse for about 10 minutes. Strain into a liquid measuring cup and set aside.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir occasionally, cook until lightly colored. Whisk in the milk and cook, whisking constantly until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Put egg yolk in a small bowl and whisk in about 1/4c of the warm sauce. Add yolk and sauce back into the saucepan and whisk until combined. Whisk in the cheese. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Whisk egg white until stiff peaks form and fold into the cooled sauce. Evenly spoon the sauce over the lamb-eggplant mixture.
- Place gratin dish inside a slightly larger dish. I used a disposable foil baking pan for this purpose. Add warm water to the foil container to come about 1/2 way up the dish. Cover the outer dish with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake until browned and bubbling, about 30 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and serve.
Personal Notes: ground lamb, beef or turkey could be substituted for the cooked cubed lamb, just adjust cooking time to properly brown the ground meat.