Served with roasted butternut & acorn squash with apples

“She’s got legs….She knows how to use them…”  ZZ Top anyone?  We bought 1/2 of a lamb from my friend’s farm back in August and have had the leg sitting in the freezer for the past few months.  I had never cooked a leg of anything before, so I was hesitant to try it out for fear of messing up the entire chunk of meat.  Then we found a good recipe for Crock Pot lamb shoulder in a local magazine, so we used that as inspiration for this dish.  The meat was so tender and amazing!  It’s the perfect winter dish and I am now officially a leg girl.  Bonus points if you rock out to ZZ Top whilst doing the reduction.

NOTE: You don’t need a crock pot to do this recipe.  You can easily braise it in the oven and I’ve provided some guidelines for this in the instructions.

Ingredients (serves 6-ish)
–  1 bone-in leg of lamb (pastured)
– 1.5 Tbsp of butter or coconut oil
– 6 cloves of garlic – peeled
– 1 onion – sliced
– 1 celeriac (aka: celery root) – peeled and cut into bite size chunks
– 1 leek – sliced
– 1 can of diced tomatoes – 796mL
– 1/2 Litre chicken stock
– 1 Bottle of red wine
– 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
– 4 sprigs of rosemary
– 4 sprigs of oregano
– 2 bay leaves
– salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Leave the meat out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature.
  2. Generously salt and pepper the entire leg.
  3. In a large and deep skillet (we used a large cast iron skillet) heat the butter/oil.  Once it starts to smoke, add the lamb and sear it for 3-5 minutes on each side or until you get a nice brown crust.  Make sure you sear it everywhere….this may require you holding the leg with tongs in an awkward position, but you do not want to leave any piece un-seared.  NOTE:  It’ll get smokey, so removing your fire alarm is recommended.
  4. Put the seared leg into the Crock Pot or into a large/deep baking dish
  5. Let the pan cool down for a couple minutes.  Then add the garlic and onions, sautéing for 2 minutes.
  6. Add the celery root and leeks and sauté for another 2 minutes.
  7. Add the red wine and deglaze the pan.  Let the red wine reduce until it is almost like a paste – Simply let it simmer for about 10 minutes or longer.  Stir and scrape the bottom every minute or so.  Don’t get anxious….let it reduce!
  8. While the wine is reducing, add the tomatoes to the Crock Pot on top of the lamb.  Also add the herbs and bay leaves.
  9. Once the wine has reduced, add the red wine vinegar and stock.  Bring it up to a simmer and then pour it into the Crock Pot or baking dish. The liquid should just cover the leg.  If it doesn’t, you may need to add a bit more stock.
  10. CROCK POT: Let it cook on high for 8 hours or low for 12-ish (we used high, so I don’t know the exact time for low).  It is done when the meat is tender.  Not completely falling off the bone, but you should be able to tear it apart pretty easily with forks.
  11. OVEN: Cover the baking dish with foil and braise it in the oven at 300 for about 4-6 hours (I think…you’ll have to check it every hour to get the right time).
  12. Try your best to pick out the rosemary, bay leaves and oregano stems.  Serve with the celery root sauce on top
  13. Enjoy!

Fully Primal Husband provided the following testimonial, “Oh man, this is good.  This might be my new favourite dish.  The flavours are amazing.”