Roast Leg of Lamb

Another favorite of mine is lamb -- I've never met a piece of lamb that I didn't like!  When I lived in Greece, my friends learned early on that a dinner out for me meant lamb, lamb, lamb!  Heavy on the garlic and fragrant Greek oregano, the smells make me think of sunshine and warmth and friends.

It's not tricky to cook this to perfection ... you need a leg of lamb (you can get a great semi-boneless one at this time of year relatively inexpensively).  Rinse it off and bring it to room temperature.  For this 6 lb. roast I used 6 cloves of peeled, sliced garlic.  Make small slits under the fat of the piece and slip in the garlic cloves.  Drizzle some olive oil over the whole leg.  Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and oregano (do try to use Greek oregano if you have it -- the taste is so different!).  Put it in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes and then lower the temperature to 325 degrees and cook for about 12 minutes per pound.  Be sure to check with a meat thermometer that your meat is over 140 degrees.  But be careful that you don't overcook this beautiful piece of meat -- lamb should be served medium rare at most -- well done lamb is a NO NO!  I prefer it on the rarer side, so I often cut off a few slabs and pop them back in the oven to the medium side for hubby.