Lemon Garlic Greek Roasted Leg of Lamb – Stuffed with Cheese and Spices
This lemon garlic lamb recipe isn’t you’re usual Greek-style lamb, even though it’s a very traditional, old recipe from northern Greece. It calls for making slits in the exterior of the lamb all over and stuffing them with a pungent mixture of Greek graviera or kefalograviera cheese, a lot of garlic, ground allspice and black pepper. It’s a dish we also make together sometimes as our farewell feast during my Ikaria classes.
Ingredients
- 1 lamb leg bone in, about 6 ½ - 7 pounds/ 3 kilos
- 1 1/2 cups grated kefalotyri or other sharp hard, preferably Greek, sheep’s milk cheese, such as kefalograviera, ladotyri or hard myzithra (Pecorino and Parmesan also work well)
- 15 garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons allspice berries
- 6 tablespoons black peppercorns divided
- ½ cup extra virgin Greek olive oil
- 3 – 4 tablespoons coarse Greek sea salt as needed
- For the Roasting Pan:
- 3 onions sliced
- 10 - 15 whole fingerlings or baby potatoes peeled or unpeeled (optional)
- 2 - 3 carrots peeled and sliced thickly on the bias
- 6 bay leaves optional
- 10 thyme sprigs
- 10 fresh oregano sprigs
- 6 fresh rosemary sprigs
- 2 cups dry white wine or more as needed
- Finishing Marinade for This Lemon Garlic Lamb Recipe:
- ½ cup extra virgin Greek olive oil
- Juice of 1 ½ lemons
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- 1 - 2 teaspoons smooth or grainy Dijon mustard optional
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 450F/220C.
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Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic, allspice berries, and peppercorns with a little salt, in increments if necessary, until the mixture is a damp, chunky paste. Mix together with the grated cheese. Set the mixture aside until ready to use.
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Rinse and pat dry the lamb. Using a sharp paring knife, make about 25 incisions on all sides of the lamb. Take a large pinch of the cheese-garlic-spice mixture and stuff it into each of the incisions, as deeply as possible. Continue until the mixture is used up, making additional incisions if necessary.
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Rub olive oil over the surface of the lamb leg and season generously with salt and pepper.
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Place the vegetables under and around the leg of lamb in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Strew the herbs all around the vegetables and stick a few sprigs into some of the incisions in the meat, too. Drizzle everything generously with olive oil. Pour the red wine over and around the lamb.
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Cover the pan with parchment or wax paper and seal with aluminum foil. Roast the lamb at 450F / 220 C for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F/170C and continue to roast, basting every 15 to 20 minutes, for about 20 minutes per pound, or 2 to 2 ½ hours for medium-rare, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the leg reads 145F.
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Ten minutes before removing from the oven, whisk together the finishing marinade and pour it over the lamb. Continue roasting another 6 to 8 minutes.
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Remove and let the lamb rest for 20-30 minutes before carving.
