The first time I made this was for Maggie’s 65th birthday. I was 28 years old, and had never made any kind of lamb by myself, much less a whole leg. But I had a couple of professional chef friends who had recently butterflied a whole leg, marinated it in red wine and rosemary, and grilled it on a wood-burning barbecue. It was unbelievably delicious, and I decided that was going to be the special meal I would make for mom’s special birthday.
I had flown back to NY from California for the occasion. I had 24 hours to buy everything I needed before Gary & Anne would drive us all in the new family mini-van with their one-year-old twins to a brand new house on a golf course in some remote corner of the Catskills that we had rented for the weekend.
In 1997, there was not a single supermarket in Nassau County that would have a butterflied leg of lamb. So mom and I drove to the fancy butcher in Farmingdale. Even they only had a bone-in leg, and they were way too busy to butterfly it for me in the moment. He promised it would be ready for me to pick up first thing the following morning. So we showed up bright and early with a cooler and loaded up for our big drive.
We arrived at the house in the golden afternoon light of late October. While the twins played hide-and-seek in the totally empty cabinets of the new construction house, I used the cheap knife and meager tools to put together the marinade. I can’t recall what we did the next day for the official birthday, but I do recall the deck with the gas grill was shaded by an apple tree, and we drank wine and tossed apples to the deer that hung out in the yard while the lamb was cooking. Most of all, I remember how incredibly delicious this lamb turned out, and what a great time we all had.
Boneless Leg of Lamb
Ingredients
- 1 boneless, butterflied leg of lamb about 5-6 pounds
- 1 cup red wine
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 shallots, minced
- 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, sage or thyme finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup beef or chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Whisk together everything except the broth & butter to make the marinade.
- Take out 1/2 cup of the marinade to save for the sauce.
- Put the lamb in a ziplock bag and add the marinade, turning and massaging to ensure it is well coated. Chill overnight or at least a couple of hours.
- Combine the reserved marinade and broth in a saucepan and heat on the stove until reduced by half, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Light the grill to medium heat. Lay the lamb flat on the grill and sprinkle with salt.
- Grill ten minutes per side, to 135F in medium-thickness spots. (Ie not thickest part or you will overcook thinner parts.)
- Remove from grill and let the lamb rest ten minutes.
- Meanwhile, warm the sauce on the stove and add the butter.
- Slice the lamb against the grain and pour half the sauce on top, and serve the rest of the sauce on the side. Make sure there is bread for the sauce.