During the holidays, Wegmans had an incredible sale on lamb; refrigerated floor bins filled with legs and racks. Good prices too. Of course the sign just said “lamb.”
A tedious search of the packaging finally turned up, in some of the tiniest print I’ve ever seen, “product of Australia.” Wouldn’t you know it! They imported lamb but they imported the wrong one! Apologies to foodisthebestshitever but everybody knows that if you’re importing lamb from way over in that direction, it should be from New Zealand! Boy howdy! What’s wrong with our education system?! Of course I bought a couple of packages to freeze. Australia can’t be that far from New Zealand (I never was strong in geography) and after reading The Thorn Birds, I figured they would know more about raising and eating sheep than we do. I was right 🙂
Quite a while ago I made a fabulous pork roast using a Jamie Oliver rub of garlic, rosemary and fennel seeds. I thought this would be interesting for lamb also. Jamie did say something about bashing this mixture around in a mortar to create a fine paste. My suggestion is that if you don’t have a coffee grinder that is dedicated to the grinding of whole spices and herbs, buy one. This will take the fuss and aggravation out of preparing Indian cuisine and Jamie Oliver’s innovative recipes. Sometimes Jamie goes too far 🙂
Australian lamb is so good! But of course you Australians know that 😉
I roasted some cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms and shallots with olive oil and herbs. Couldn’t go wrong there, I’ve done it so many times 😀 Perfect with the lamb.
I thought I would try to make an attractive sandwich photo but I just wanted to eat it and couldn’t be bothered 😀
Fennel and Rosemary Roasted Lamb Leg
1 semi-boneless leg of lamb roast
Leaves from 2 sprigs of rosemary
3 heaping tbsps fennel seeds
3-4 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 whole rosemary sprigs
Aggressively stab the roast all over with a large knife. Grind the rosemary leaves, fennel seeds, garlic cloves, salt and pepper together and rub into the lamb. Allow the lamb to rest for about 30 minutes.
Place the whole rosemary sprigs on the grill of a roasting pan and lay the roast on top. Preheat the oven to 425 F, then roast the lamb for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 F and continue to roast for an hour.
Ha ha – I’m not sure I can taste much difference between Australian and New Zealand lamb myself, though the New Zealand is the more common of the two in Britain theses days. I think the principle is the same, they’ve worked at breeding tender, hardy sheep that take care of themselves until our dinner time. Yours looks good and blessed with my kind of pink inside 😉
I believe I can taste the difference but Australian lamb, I think, is better than American and French. Pink is the only way to go!
It’s difficult to tell – one doesn’t normally get to taste the two side by side. Pink is definitely best 😉
I think the New Zealand has a sweet, not gamey but wild? taste. Maybe I can’t describe it but I do believe that I could recognize it in a taste test.
It think it’s the type of grazing that creates the flavour. New Zealand has a cooler climate so I’d imagine that the grass might be more luxuriant.
That’s it! Sweet, grassy taste 😀
That looks fantastic!
Thank you Jeanne.
I can smell it! 😀 Lamb is my absolute favourite meat and yours looks so delicious!
Thank you Sarah 🙂
Well cooked and delicious. I’ll stick with my Welsh lamb though (think of the food miles). I think it’s illegal for me to get it from anywhere else as a Welshman.
😀
Love the reference to Thorn Birds! And a great idea to make a sandwich with the leftovers. 🙂
Thank you Virginia.
My favourite, but my wife’s least favourite. Only one winner I’m afraid – I have to wait until we eat out normally. I do like NZ lamb, but inevitably it’s frozen to get to Europe, so I wonder how it would taste otherwise?? Welsh lamb is pretty similar I gather though; same climate. Looks delicious either way.
I’d also like to taste NZ lamb fresh but unwilling to travel for it 🙂
The lamb looks dangerously rare. Just how it should be!
Another lovely presentation, no matter from where the lamb came.
Thank you Conor. It was hot all the way through and that’s all I ask 😉
Beautiful – love lamb! I love it pink but have recently been converted to slow cooking it till it falls off the bones as well. Yum 🙂
Thank you Chica. I’ll try that also. I know that it certainly works well with shanks.
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Oh my God, that looks soooo delicious!!!
Thank you cess.
Born in New Zealand but have lived in Australia for most of my life. Aussie lamb is super but when we visit NZ, I do think there is a bit of a difference. The grass methinks? That’s my belief and I am sticking to it. Funny Thorn Birds reference.
I think there is a difference Cheer but Aussie lamb is not bad.
Oh, I hope I didn’t sound anti Aussie lamb! I am very appreciative of what we have. Love the look and sound of this spice rub.
Thank you.