Roasted Lamb With Potato, Onion and Tomato Gratin

Cathleen Colbert's Note:

Feom Parade magazine as excerpted from Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 6 garlic cloves , 1 split, rest chopped
• 2 lbs russet potatoes , peeled and thinly sliced
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 2 large onions , very thinly sliced
• 5 medium tomatoes , cored and thinly sliced (about 1 pound)
• 2⁄3; cup dry white wine
• 1⁄3; cup olive oil
• 1 leg of lamb , with bone in (about 6 to 7 pounds)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Rub bottom of 16x10 gratin pan with split garlic clove.
3. Arrange potato slices in bottom of pan.
4. Season with salt, pepper, some of the thyme and chopped garlic.
5. Add a layer of onions and seasoning.
6. Add a layer of tomatoes and seasoning on top.
7. Drizzle with wine and oil.
8. Trim the thicker portions of fat from the leg of lamb.
9. Season with salt and pepper.
10. Place lamb on a sturdy cake rake directly on top of gratin pan.
11. Roast, uncovered, for about 1 hour and 15 minutes for rare lamb (1 hour and 45 minutes for well-done); turning lamb every 15 minutes, basting with liquid from gratin pan.
12. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 20 minutes before carving.

Reviews

[Lorac]

Better than excellent! A wonderful and nicely balanced combination of flavors enhanced by the lamb drippings. I made half the recipe using 3 tomatoes and a 3 pound boneless rolled lamb roast which I placed on a cake rack over a casserole dish. I cooked the dish for 1 hour and the lamb was perfectly browned with a rare center after it sat for 10 minutes. Next time I would add an extra potato for the half recipe with the full amount of wine or oil. DH ate half the veggies himself. Thank you Cathleen, this goes into my book of special tricks!

[Classic Chef]

This is an excellent way to prepare lamb. However, I will add that I have used this same recipe with Pork Roasts and very thick Loin Chops as well. The result is always the same - EXCELLENT. I have also substituted the wine with a few drips of olive oil when I didn't have wine available. The recipe still provides a very good result. Thanks for the recipe.

[JAD40]

Tried this, but as my husband can't eat any 220 preservative (found in 99% of wines), I did the meat separate to the rest of the dish. Was nice, but it obviously needs the meat juice to take it from nice to fantastic. Just thought I would post this hint incase anyone else was thinking of doing what I did. Didn't think it fair to only give you 3 stars though! :-)