Grilled Leg of Lamb

Every so often I crave some lamb. Not everyone in my family loves it as much as I do, but usually my wife and I can put away a bunch o’ lamb chops or do some damage to a leg of lamb.

Here I’ve got a 4 lb boneless leg of lamb.

But how to cook it?  Crock pot?  Oven roast?  Grill?

It being close to 90 degrees today in the Bay area, I decide to throw it on the BBQ.  I am into simple prep and cooking methods, so all I do to the lamb is:

• slice about 5 cloves of garlic and insert into small slices in the lamb
• drizzle with olive oil (on both sides) and lemon juice
• sprinkle with black pepper, rosemary and thyme

Here it is, ready for the grill….yes, I left the fat on.  Didn’t want it to dry out on the grill.

I crank up the grill to about 400 degrees, oil the grate and put the lamb on, fat side down, directly on the heat.  There’s a lot of flare ups, so after the fat has begun to caramelize, I move the lamb to an  indirect heat so it doesn’t burn and stick in a meat thermometer to keep from over cooking.

I occasionally move the lamb around the grill so that it cooks evenly and after about 20 minutes, flip it to the other side.  I leave it on the non-fat side for about another 15 minutes and then back to the fat side to finish it up.  Approximately 15 minutes later, the inner temperature reaches 145 degrees, which is medium rare.  I remove from the grill and cover in foil for 20 minutes and then carve.

Its medium rare to medium in places and absolutely delicious.  My wife and I were in lamb heaven and even my son, not generally a big fan of lamb, dug in as well.  Success!

Next time, I might try a lamb shoulder or another cut and may try a stew or curry.

Enjoy,

Jon