Recipe and photo courtesy of Tania Teschke | The Bordeaux Kitchen
Roasted lamb can be a gourmet treat and a real attention grabber at family gatherings. The intoxicating aroma and the gorgeous presentation will have your guests eagerly anticipating this scrumptious meal. With the holidays approaching and home chefs preparing ideas for get-togethers, we’ll submit this recipe for your consideration. Any lamb cut can be used for this recipe, but we’ll use a lamb shoulder roast for this one. Start with pasture raised, grass-fed lamb for the best flavor and nutrition.
Our thanks to past featured chef, Tania Teschke for providing this traditional French inspired Garlic & Rosemary Lamb Roast recipe. For more incredible ancestral recipes, check out her food blog and kitchen companion, The Bordeaux Kitchen.
Preparation Time: 10 to 15 min
Cooking Time: varies by weight; 15 – 20 minutes per 1.1lbs
US Wellness Shopping List: Lamb Shoulder Roast, Rack of Lamb, or Leg of Lamb
Ingredients
- Lamb Shoulder Roast – 4lbs (or your choice of cut)
- Several garlic cloves, minced
- Several teaspoons fresh or dried rosemary, minced
- Several pinches of coarse sea salt
- A pinch or two of ground pepper
- Several tablespoons olive oil
GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR ROASTS
The five ingredients are the same throughout these first lamb recipes:
minced garlic, chopped rosemary, coarse sea salt, ground pepper, and optional olive oil drizzled over all sides of the meat. If by chance you do not have rosemary, thyme (especially fresh thyme) is a good substitute. It has a different flavor profile, but it is still aromatic and well-suited to lamb dishes.
You can eyeball the amounts and adjust whether more or less is needed, depending on the size of the piece of meat. If the meat is frozen, remember to allow it to thaw overnight. Once thawed, you can then marinate the meat in the ingredients mixture overnight or for several hours prior to cooking.
- Remember to remove meat to be roasted from the refrigerator 20 to 30 minutes prior to cooking to allow the meat to come to room temperature so that it will cook through evenly.
- Preheat the oven to 395 degrees F, and remove the meat from the refrigerator.
- While you wait for the meat to come to room temperature, you can prepare the ingredients if you have not already marinated the meat in them.
- Cook for 10 – 15 minutes at 395 degrees F, then for approximately 58 minutes at 365 degrees F. (20 min per 1.1 lb)
To assess the “degree of doneness” (stade de cuisson), use a meat thermometer placed into the center of the roast to determine the inner temperature of the meat. The duration of cooking will depend on the size of the roast (and whether you have multiple items in the oven at once), therefore checking every 10 to 15 minutes after the initial recommended cooking time will help you gauge when to remove your roast from the oven. Roasts may actually be removed from the oven once they have reached 5˚F to 10˚ F (3˚ to 6˚ C) lower than the desired temperature, as the inner temperature (temperature a coeur) will continue to rise for several minutes outside of the oven. It helps to experiment with your oven, thermometer, and different sizes of roasts to see how long they take to reach your desired degree of “doneness.”
Degrees of Doneness for Lamb
Extra Rare (Bleu): 131 to 135°F.
Rare (Saignant): 140°F.
Medium Rare: 140 to 149°F.
Medium (À point): 130 to 135°F.
Medium Well: 158°F.
Well Done (Bien Cuit): 158 to 167°F.
Notes
For roasts, a butcher’s rule of thumb is to cook roasts for about 15 minutes per 1.1 pounds (500 g), thicker roasts for about 20 minutes per 1.1 pounds (500 g).
“With garlic and rosemary lamb, whether grilled or roasted, I
recommend serving roasted root vegetables or potatoes or sautéed in season vegetables.” ~ Tania
Meet The Chef
Tania Teschke previously lived in Bordeaux, France, where she studied French cooking, butchery with an award-winning French butcher, and she earned a diploma in wine tasting from the University of Bordeaux. Having faced numerous health issues over more than two decades, Tania is passionate about healing herself, feeding her family nutritious meals and sharing what she has learned with others. Her book of ancestral French recipes, published by Primal Blueprint, is called The Bordeaux Kitchen. Find more of Tania’s recipes and adventures at: Food Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Photography Blog