Jamie’s best roast leg of lamb recipe

1. Remove the lamb from the fridge 1 hr before you want to cook it, to let it come up to room temperature. Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200ºC, fan 180ºC. 
2. Peel and halve the potatoes, parboil in a pan of boiling salted water for 12-14 mins, then drain and allow to steam-dry. Gently toss the potatoes in the colander to chuff up the edges, then tip back into the pan. 
3. Meanwhile, break up the garlic bulbs into cloves, then peel 6 cloves, leaving the rest unpeeled. Strip the rosemary leaves and use a pestle and mortar to pound with a pinch of sea salt. Add the peeled garlic cloves and the zest of 1 lemon and bash to a rustic paste. Drizzle in 1 tbsp olive oil, season, then pound until combined. 
4. Pierce the skin of the leg of lamb at an angle with a sharp pointed knife 6 or 8 times at random around the leg. Drizzle on the marinade and rub all over the meat, pushing some into the incisions. 
5. Put a little oil in a roasting tin, tip in the potatoes and toss to coat. At this point, you can add extra garlic and lemon zest to the potatoes, if you like. Place the lamb directly onto the middle shelf of your oven, with the tin of potatoes underneath to catch all the lovely juices, and cook – see below for cooking times. 
6. Meanwhile, make the mint sauce (if using). Pick and finely chop the mint leaves, then put in a small bowl. Mix in a good pinch of salt, 1 tbsp of hot water, the vinegar and the sugar, to taste. 
7. When the lamb is cooked to your liking, remove from the oven and leave to rest for 30 mins or so. Turn the oven down to low to keep the potatoes warm. Carve the lamb and serve with the roast potatoes, with mint sauce and some seasonal greens, if you like.

Tips and swaps

• Use the juice of the lemons to dress your greens – simply mix with extra-virgin olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
• You can prep and marinate the lamb the day before – just leave the salt out of the marinade and season the lamb just before cooking.
• Switch up the roast veg – carrots, parsnips and celeriac would all work really well alongside the potatoes.

*Lamb cooking times:

Blushing: 1 hr

Medium: 1 hr 10 mins

Well done: 1 hr 20 mins

See more Jamie Oliver recipes

For top tips on protecting you and your family when preparing raw meat and poultry, visit Food Safety in the Home.