Easter Dinner - Boneless Leg of Lamb on the Rotisserie


 

John Sp

TVWBB All-Star
Hello All,

This year for Easter, my wife reluctantly agreed to let me do the lamb on the Weber rotisserie. Lamb at Easter is a tradition handed down through my wife's family and it is a big honkin' deal. I perused the recipes on my favorite BBQ bulletin board and finally settled on Chris' recipe from 2004 as my baseline model. We like our lamb rare to medium rare (and woe be to the cook that serves it any other way). Can you appreciate the pressure I put myself under here? I was prepping the roast before church when I realized I didn't have any dried oregano and I didn't have time to get any. I substituted a homemade Italian seasoning (equal parts dried tarragon, dried oregano, and dried basil) for the oregano called for in Chris' original recipe. I also substituted lemon zest for the lemon pieces Chris used in the marinade.

Ingredients:
  • 1 large leg of lamb deboned
  • 2 tbs butter (softened)
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • zest from 1 lemon, minced
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 4 tbs Italian spice mix
  • 2 cups basting sauce


Spice Rub:
  • 2 tbs Italian seasoning mix
  • 2 tbs kosher salt
  • 1 tbs black pepper

Basting Sauce:
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1-1/2 lemons' worth)
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning mix
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • zest of 2 lemons, minced


Procedure:
Prepare the spice rub by mixing the ingredients in a small bowl. Prepare the basting sauce by spinning up the ingredients in a blender to emulsify. Lay the lamb out on a clean cutting board and butterfly it so that it will lay flat. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lemon over the meat and rub it in. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the spice rub, the lemon zest, and the garlic and rub these in. Smear the whole thing over with the butter. Roll the lamb up with the ingredients on the inside and tie into a compact roast with butcher's twine. Coat the outside of the roast with olive oil and sprinkle with the rest of the spice rub. Wrap the roast in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least 4 hours. One hour before cooking, remove the roast and spit it for the grill. Prepare your fire (I use a charcoal weber 22" OTG- you gas grillers are on your own here) - I use a full chimney and split the charcoal into baskets on each side of the rotisserie path. Damp the fire for about five minutes to knock the temp down. Add the roast to the rotisserie and spin it up. Crack the bottom vents and open the top half way. Baste the meat every 10 minutes or so until the internal temp reaches 100 deg F. Then open the bottom and top vents wide and continue basting every 5 to 10 minutes until it reaches 125 - 130 deg F internal. Pull the roast and rest under foil for at least 10 minutes. Carve for the table and serve. This approach does not allow for buildup of a crust on the outside of the roast (a tradeoff we are willing to make for the rare/medium rare presentation). Next time I intend to try using Creole mustard as the slather rather than olive oil. This may provide more crust.

We served this along with my wife's awesome Quinoa Tabbouleh, steamed asparagus, and roasted turnips. The family loved it and I may have a new tradition on my hands going forward. I will post pics in a reply...

Regards,

John
 
Last edited:
Easter Dinner Pics

Hello All,

Here are the pics from the Easter Dinner cook:

Butterflied Lamb Ready for Prep



Prepped Lamb





Tied and Prepared for the Spit


Beginning of Cook


Rain - It Never Fails - Had to Move Under Cover



Preparing to Carve


Plated with Asparagus, Roasted Turnips, and Quinoa Tabbouleh

Regards,

John
 
Last edited:
Hello All,

We did this again for Easter dinner. This time I used the mustard as a slather. We did get better crust on the outside of the roast so I think it was an improvement. Dinner was wonderful.

Regards,

John
 
John, put a left-facing square bracket --> ] <-- after the first
[IMG. And get rid of the = sign.

and after the .jpg put
[/IMG]

Your pics should now show.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Len - I corrected it. Not sure why the pics are so small. I kept having these problems with Imageshack so I switched to Photobucket...

Regards,

John
 
UPDATE: I did this one again at Easter 2015. I used Dijon mustard for the slather and ran it medium hot straight through. I also used the oregano called for in the original recipe. This time we got pretty good bark on the outside and still achieved the rare/medium rare presentation coveted by my family. It was an improvement and I have altered the recipe accordingly. Happy Easter everyone!

Ingredients:

  • 1 large leg of lamb deboned
  • 2 tbs butter (softened)
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • zest from 1 lemon, minced
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 4 tbs Dijon Mustard
  • 4 tbs Dried Oregano
  • 2 cups basting sauce



Spice Rub:

  • 2 tbs Dried Oregano
  • 2 tbs kosher salt
  • 1 tbs black pepper


Basting Sauce:

  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1-1/2 lemons' worth)
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 2 tsp Dried Oregano
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • zest of 2 lemons, minced

Procedure:
Prepare the spice rub by mixing the ingredients in a small bowl. Prepare the basting sauce by spinning up the ingredients in a blender to emulsify. Lay the lamb out on a clean cutting board and butterfly it so that it will lay flat. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lemon over the meat and rub it in. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the spice rub, the lemon zest, and the garlic and rub these in. Smear the whole thing over with the butter. Roll the lamb up with the ingredients on the inside and tie into a compact roast with butcher's twine. Coat the outside of the roast with Dijon Mustard and sprinkle with the rest of the spice rub. Wrap the roast in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for at least 4 hours. One hour before cooking, remove the roast and spit it for the grill. Prepare your fire (I use a charcoal weber 22" OTG- you gas grillers are on your own here) - I use a full chimney and split the charcoal into baskets on each side of the rotisserie path. Damp the fire for about five minutes to knock the temp down. Add the roast to the rotisserie and spin it up. Set the bottom vents at 1/3 and open the top half way. Baste the meat every 10 minutes or so until the internal temp reaches 120 deg F. Pull the roast and rest under foil for at least 10 minutes. Carve for the table and serve. This will yield rare/medium rare presentation. If you want it more done - I suggest you set your vents at 20% bottom and 25% top and run to 140 or so (to avoid burning the crust).
Regards,

John
 

 

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