There are so many recipes for cooking a leg of lamb available online, it seems silly adding another one to the collection. However, having spent time trying to find one which would cook everything unattended, I took bits from various recipes and came up with this very simple process which I am am recording here for my sake if no-one else's!
In putting this together, the key piece of equipment needed is a deep roasting tin with a trivet which will allow the meat to sit over the vegetables in the bottom of the tin (something like this).
For the preparation, peel and cut potatoes into roast potato sized chunks, and par-boil them for about 10 minutes. Peel and cut some parsnips into chunks, cut onions (either - or both - red and white) into quarters, and peel a pile of garlic cloves. The quantities of vegetables depend on how many people you are feeding, but a leg of lamb will probably serve 6 to 8.
Put all the vegetables into the bottom of the roasting tin, and drizzle with some olive oil, and throw in a couple of sprigs of rosemary.
Make some nicks in the meat before rubbing it with oil and seasoning with salt and pepper. Then insert some mini-sprigs of rosemary (and/or garlic) into the nicks.
Put the trivet over the vegetables, and put the lamb on the trivet.
Having pre-heated the oven to 190 degrees Celsius, cook the whole thing for about 90 minutes (uncovered), and then leave to rest out of the over (covered) for about 20 minutes.
The meat can be carved, and the vegetables and be served straight out of the tray. The meat juices will have made a delicious gravy in the bottom of the tray which can be served as it is. If you want to dirty some more utensils, transfer the vegetables to a warmed serving bowl and keep them warm in the over, and make a proper gravy in the roasting tin.
While this might not be the most finessed recipe, it is simple, will cook unattended (and can be left on a timer), and will feed a group of people very happily.
