Let me just say upfront, the pictures do not do justice to how tasty this meal turned out. Ideally, this would be prepared using lamb shoulder, but it is very hard to find. So I used the upper part of the leg, boneless, tied with a net to keep its overall shape. You have two options for leg of lamb: cooking it rare to medium-rare (more traditional), or cooking a lot longer, so that the meat pretty much falls off the bone (when there’s a bone). I wanted to make it sous-vide, but while doing some research, found a wide range of temperature and cooking time listed in cookbooks and websites. After hyperventilating about it for a while, I settled on 30 hours at 160 F. I am thrilled to report that it was a successful experiment. If you don’t have a sous-vide gadget, please see my comments after the recipe.
30-HOUR LEG OF LAMB WITH MASHED SWEET POTATOES
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)
1 boneless leg of lamb, butterflied and tied (2.5 to 3.0 pounds)
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
4 tablespoons mustard powder
2 tsp ground black pepper
5 sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in large chunks
1 + 3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (I used Aleppo pepper)
1/2 tsp Southwest Seasoning mix (I used Penzey’s)
3/4 cup light coconut milk
fresh parsley, minced (to taste)
Set your sous-vide to 160 F. Mix the salt, pepper and mustard together in a small bowl. Pat the meat dry and season all over with the spice mixture. Place inside a bag and vacuum-seal it. Place in the water-bath and cook for 30 hours. Cover the container with aluminum foil and check for water evaporation over that period of time. When 30 hours passed, remove the meat from the bag, and run under a broiler to get a nice brown roasted appearance to it. Serve immediately, the meat should be falling apart when you probe it with a fork.
For the mashed potatoes. Place the potatoes, water and seasonings in a crock pot. Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours. Warm the coconut milk in a microwave (do not boil), add to the potatoes in the crock pot, and mash with a potato masher to the consistency you prefer. Add minced parsley, adjust seasoning, and serve with the lamb.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: Some questions you might have: do I need a sous-vide for this? Well, you do if you want to come up with this exact result, but you can always follow this method to obtain a similar type of lamb, quite different from the way it is normally enjoyed. It is known as “Lamb you can eat with a spoon” and pretty much describes the meal we had. Another question could be, can I make it in 24 hours instead of 30? I’d say you probably could, but the meat would not be as tender. Sous-vide offers a real wide flexibility in terms of timing, but I would definitely go more towards 30 rather than 24 for this preparation. There are discussions on how much liquid the meat loses as you increase the temperature and the timing, so higher temperatures can be problematic for some cuts of meat. I heard of a fantastic recipe for lamb shoulder from a restaurant that cooks it at 170F for 36 hours, but keep in mind that lamb shoulder is a bit different in terms of texture. All things considered, I think the way we made it turned out pretty good. I would like to come up with a sauce to serve with it, but was unsure about using the liquid accumulated in the bag as a starting point. Will re-visit this issue soon.
The sweet potatoes were quite delicious, and paired well with the lamb. We also had green beans and almonds as another side dish, forming a fun and colorful dinner plate. Leftovers can be shredded and come back as part of a lamb ragu, coupled with a hearty tomato sauce, or part of a curry with some garbanzo beans added to the party.
If you prefer a more traditional leg of lamb, you can use 135 to 140F for 24 hours for a bone-in piece. That will give you tender meat, pink all the way through, perfect to cut in slices. I like to keep seasoning simple, but you can of course use all kinds of dry rubs or marinades before placing it in the bag.
Sous-vide is a perfect gadget for entertaining. Since timing is so flexible and after sous-vide all you need is a last-minute browning or searing, it works wonders when you have guests for dinner.
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This sounds unbelievably delicious. I have a sous vide cooker too!
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it’s a fun gadget to play with, as I’m sure you know!!!!
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I love food, but I also lift weights religiously. I love how I can put a really thick steak in it, set it for medium rare, go hit the gym, then when I get home all I’ve got to do is brown it in a pan and it’s a PERFECT medium rare from edge to edge!
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oh, you lift weights! That is such a great exercise! I love working out with weights, but what I do would not be qualified as weight lifting per se, it’s more just some routines that involve dumbbells, but nothing too drastic. And you are absolutely right, sous-vide makes cooking a steak doable even when you are trying to finish a 40 min workout before dinner!
side note: About 12 years ago I got a book called Lift like a man, look like a goddess (or something rather) and it was a program of fitness a bit more intense in the weights, but I did not complete it. I got “distracted” by exercise videos and that was that.
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I’m actually a personal trainer. My daughter wanted to start weight lifting a year ago. When we started she was bench pressing and deadlifting only the bar (45 pounds). Now she deadlifts 135 pounds for 12 reps, and bench presses 105 pounds for maybe 10 reps. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn, even at rest. That’s why I try to build all the muscle I can so I can eat like a 🐷! I also love the way it makes me look too, of course.
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wonderful!!!! I wrote a few reviews of exercise programs here… if you are interested in reading, they are all under the category FITNESS
https://bewitchingkitchen.com/category/fitness/
I reviewed the three P90X programs, and a few others. I only review the programs I complete, which means I thought they were good enough to follow beginning to end (wink, wink)
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Cool! Thanks.
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This looks really good. I can get lamb shoulders every day of the week so I will try that. I haven’t tried one in the sous vide though. I like it rubbed with ras el hanout spices and poaching it in coconut milk on a very low temperature for 8-9 hours. Your method sounds SO good. I shall leave mine and hop on your train. xx
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well but now you made me curious about the preparation you use! sounds delicious too!
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Thank you, Maureen and so glad to hear from you ! Obviously no problem with a lovely lamb shoulder either . . . use ras el hanout all the time and should be making my own . . . and your poaching mode with coconut milk ticks all my boxes . . . best Eha
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That sounds and looks good. I just bought a lamb cut I had never seen before – loin roast. I will google for SV guidelines but expect to use a temp for a tender cut, similar to what I’ve used for rib chops or a rack.
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yes, I think you can pretty much use that, it will be perfect… let me know once you make it, I sometimes find that cut here, but haven’t tried it yet
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Sally, the lamb can be delightful cooked SV. You have obviously nailed it. Sous vide is also great for flexible timing (as you alluded), particularly when one has poor time keepers as guests. Excellent job.
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are your guests Brazilians by any chance? 😉 everyone in Brazil must be fashionably late, always, including the hosts. If you find yourself invited for a dinner party in Sao Paulo, keep in mind that if you arrive when they say the fun starts – say, 8pm – you will find the hostess still taking a shower
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That in itself could be fun…
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so there you go… I gave you excellent tips for your first trip to my home country! 😉
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Yum, Sally! I need to go pull out my sous vide!
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I am always searching for reasons to pull mine out of its drawer – that’s another thing I love about the Anova I have, it is so easy to store! (no, I don’t work for the company!)
😉
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My god do I love lamb. I would have married some of the legs I’ve roasted if only they could do laundry. This looks like an excellent version, one worth dusting off the sous vide for (NewWifey(tm) will dust it of course, since she’s a woman).
I usually tunnel-bone my lamb leg (no jokes please, Ms. Smut) and stuff the empty cylinder with whatever I have lying around (herbs…cat…Tonka trucks…) and make a stock from the bone while it roasts, I’d say your method of butterflying it is better here though, if only so it will fit into one of those damn bags. 30 hours will also give me more time to make a proper stock and sauce, bolster at the end with any extruded juices in the bag (hint hint).
Thanks Sally – you never disappoint! (Well, maybe the regrettably unfashionable black gloves were a mistake. They clash with your bag, dearie.)
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I should have explained better – I actually did not butterfly it myself, the butcher did it and sold already rolled and tied in that super sexy net. Almost as sexy as my black gloves, but apparently SOME do not perceive them this way. I am disappointed. Bigly so.
I hear you on the juices left in the bag, I think I made a silly rookie mistake by not using it. Oh, well…. next time I’ll be prepared
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not to be a bit pushy, but I hope you will be around to see my next post, going live Saturday – I think you will like that one… (wink wink)
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Forgive my techno-ingorance, but…what does “going live” mean?
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being published online – I say that because the post is ready, but set to “go live” on Sat.
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Ok, so it’s not like “live stream” on YouTube or FB. It’s just…static? As in, I can’t cajole you in comments in real time to do your Dance of the 7 Veals? I JUST HAVE TO READ SOMTHING?? *sigh* Quelle horreur. Oh well, since it’s so important to you and you do have some nice doggies…ok, I’ll pop by on Saturday. But you better have nicer gloves then!
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I have been wanting to do a lamb roast sous vide and your recipe sounds like the ticket. I love some of the comments, they gave me a giggle. My mouth is watering and what a great idea to use coconut milk with the sweet potatoes. Pinned.
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Dangerspouse never disappoints, does he? He turns any blog post into a party… and gives me a hard time whenever he has a chance, which is… often 😉
I hope you try this method, because it is really different from the usual way to prepare lamb, I kind of like that
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