Leg of Lamb with Blood Orange Glaze, Fregola, Feta and Mint
Ingredients: 12
A delicious and flavorful dish featuring tender leg of lamb with a citrusy blood orange glaze, served with fregola, feta cheese, and fresh mint.
Ingredients
| 2 1⁄2 | pound boneless leg of lamb. It’s pretty easy to bone out yourself if you are so inclined and you can put the bone to other uses but otherwise ask you butcher |
|---|---|
| 7 | or 8 blood oranges (tarocchi) |
| 1⁄4 | cup red wine, preferably Sicilian |
| 1⁄2 | cup Sicilian olives (big fat ones, I used a combination of black and red) |
| 1⁄2 | cup crumbled feta cheese divided (that would be two ¼ cups if I have my math right) |
| 1 | cup fregola grassa (sardegnan couscous) |
| 1 | medium red onion |
| 1 | bunch mint, the freshest you can find |
| 1 | clove garlic |
| Sea salt (of course) | |
| Ground black pepper to your taste | |
| Extra virgin olive oil |
Instructions
-
- Prepare the olives by pitting and roughly chopping them for the filling.
- Carefully open up the boneless leg of lamb. Using a sharp knife, cross hatch the meat without piercing the skin. Season with salt and pepper. Add the olives and a portion of the crumbled feta cheese, then spread over the interior surface.
- Cut a single long piece of kitchen string, suitable to tie up the lamb in a jelly roll form. Ensure to maintain straight seams.
- Slice the garlic into slivers. Make small slits in the lamb and insert the garlic slivers.
- Generously season the lamb with sea salt. Preheat the oven to 350°F to 375°F.
- Peel and thinly slice the red onion. Grease a roasting pan and layer the bottom with the onion slices.
- Juice all except two of the blood oranges, aiming for about ½ cup of juice. In a small saucepan, combine the orange juice with the red wine and warm up gently.
- Baste the lamb with the warm juice and wine mixture. Place the lamb in the oven and cook for approximately 1 to 1 ½ hours, basting every twenty minutes. Check the lamb's temperature with an instant-read thermometer. Once it reaches 140°F, remove from the oven, tent with aluminum foil, and let it rest for ten minutes.
- While the lamb is cooking, prepare the fregola according to package instructions. Chop a generous amount of fresh mint. Sprinkle some mint over the lamb while it rests. Peel the remaining two oranges, segment them (supremes).
- To serve, carve the lamb, spoon out fregola, top with crumbled feta, additional mint, and garnish with blood orange segments.
Jul 19, 2024