Stuffed Boneless Leg of Lamb with Smashed Roasted Fingerling Potatoes & Parsnips

I first made this recipe the Easter before Sam enlisted into the Navy.  I've wanted to make it again forever.  I just happen to notice that Sprouts had boneless leg of lamb cuts on sale, and I decided right then and there that I would have to make it again.  There are so many things that could be part of the stuffing ingredients.  I think the key is to include items that will that will add loads of flavor to the lamb.  This particular recipe is Mediterranean inspired.  I thought afterward of various greens I could have included as well: Of course the trend of the moment, Kale, but I love Swiss Chard more, since it's a milder green. Artichokes, tender asparagus, eggplant, roasted red bell pepper, kalamata olives, fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.  You can always make your own version of this stuffing.  Just make sure you're tasting as you go.  Also, the panko bread crumbs can be replaced with lentils, quinoa, barley, brown rice, farro, etc.  It just depends on whether you're eating gluten free or not.  Have fun!  I hope you like this as much as my family. 

Stuffed Leg of Lamb with Smashed Roasted Fingerlings and Turnips, with a simple Pan Gravy

Stuffing Ingredients:

2 oz smoked bacon, cut into lardons (1/4 inch wide, by 2 inch long strips)

2 oz olive oil

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

1/4 cop red & yellow bell peppers, chopped (can use any color(s) combination, just not green)

1 1/4 Tbsp garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp Kosher salt

large pinch pepper

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

small pinch of cayenne, or ground red pepper 

1 bag baby spinach, chopped

1/4 tsp lemon zest

1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 cup dried breadcrumbs

1/4 cup feta cheese (or substitute with Parmesan, Romano, or Pecorino)

Lamb Ingredients:
2 1/2 lb boneless leg of lamb, trimmed of silverskin only

salt & pepper

olive oil to drizzle pan, and lamb
Gravy/Pan Sauce Ingredients:
2-3 Tbsp Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour (or regular All-Purpose Flour)
3-5 cups Beef Stock (can substitute with Vegetable or Chicken stock as well)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Garnish, optional: 
Either lemon zest or chopped parsley

Directions:

1. In a large skillet (I used our cast iron skillet), oh medium heat, cook the bacon until it the fat has rendered, about 4 minutes.  Add onions, continuing to cook and stir occasionally, for 3 minutes.  Then add the chopped peppers cooking another 2-3 minutes.  Sprinkle on the garlic and seasonings.  Allow to cook another minute, stirring occasionally.  Now add the spinach and zest, and toss to coat.  The leaves will instantly begin to wilt.  Using a pair of tongs, flip the spinach around, so the un-cooked leaves will be able to get heat, and the wilted sides can get off the heat.

 BEFORE

AFTER

2. Once all the leaves have wilted, turn off the heat then add in the breadcrumbs and cheese.

3. Then pour on the lemon zest, and allow to cool off before handling stuffing.
4. In the meantime, it's on to prepare the lamb. Oh, and preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  That might help :)

This is how the lamb looks when you get it from Sprouts Market.  Some butchers will wrap it with twine, but they'll use something to bind it all together.  If I had some, I would've used some caulfat, none in the fridge though.  The green spot is the Done gauge, but they don't work, they only tell you once the meat is over temp, so throw it out, please.

I decided to reuse this mesh again, so I could recycle it.  If you have twine, and know how to truss this type of meat, go for it!
Here's how I prepped the meat:

 This first photo, I just began the first of many diagonal cuts, just trying to go through the thick fat layer.  If you're watching your saturated fats, this can be trimmed off, and replaced with a generous rubbing of olive oil.

 Here, my daughter just wanted to take a picture without my terrible nail polish job, lol!

 Here you can see I did diagonal cuts all the way down the fat, and I did do very thing slices into the silverskin, or shiny fat, farthest away from the photo.

Again, we start at one end, cutting periodically with the previous cuts.  I'm afraid I did get a bit too enthusiastic, but it just allowed the melted fat to penetrate the meat.

Here, I made the last cut.  CAUTION! Don't do what I did and lay your tips so close to where you are cutting.  I usually have a claw hand, holding onto my "victim" ;)  Now, back to the instructions......
5. Take the cooled stuffing, place it in large mounts on the inside of the lamb (opposite side of the fat).  Make sure you leave at least a 1/2 inch border around the edges of the meat.

6. Roll the meat over the stuffing, jelly-roll style, and tuck in the ends (as much as possible anyway).

Don't worry, the other side looks like it exploded. c:

7. Take the trussing, or mesh which came with the lamb, do you best to wrap it back up.  I did mine like you would a pair of pantyhose, well just one leg of them anyways.

8. Drizzle the olive oil inside a heavy baking casserole, or roasting pan.  Place the roll inside.  Then, drizzle with the remaining oil.  Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

9. Roast the meat for a minimum of 40 minutes.  Using a instant read thermometer, push it into the center of the lamb, touching the stuffing, to get an accurate reading.  It will need to read 135 degrees to be cooked to medium-rare; it will continue to cook while it's resting.  Place on a cutting board and allow to rest while you focus on making the gravy/pan sauce.  Make sure you remove all pieces of the stuffing that might have fell out of the lamb.

10. Place the pan on a stove top burner and turn on to medium.  Using the flour, we're going to make a rue.  Whisk it around, picking up as many bits and pieces off the bottom of the pan as you go.  The flour flavor has to be cooked out of the flour before we can move to the next step.  This should take 1-2 minutes.
11. Slowly begin to pour in stock, at first only pouring in a 1/4 cup at a time, stirring to completely incorporate before adding more stock.  Continue to do this until all the stock is added.  Then raise temperature to Medium High, and stir constantly til it just begins to bubble.  then lower temperature to Medium-Low.  Your gravy will be done once the gravy will stay on the back of a spoon.  My gravy had enough seasoning, but make sure you taste yours before taking it off the heat.
12. I made smashed roasted fingerling potatoes and parsnips to accompany this dish.  You can make anything you'd like, including couscous, brown rice pilaf, or even garlic mashed potatoes.  To make the potatoes and parsnips, I just cleaned and dried the potatoes, cut the parsnips into 2 inch strips, tossed in olive oil, minced garlic, lemon zest, dried crushed rosemary, and salt and pepper.  Then they were roasted at the same time as the lamb, at the same temp in a medium roasting pan.  They took about 30 minutes.  You can tell when they're done by piercing with a fork.  They're done when the fork pierced very easily, and they should be a nice light golden brown.  After I removed them from the heat, I  used a potato masher to mash them right inside the roasting pan.  After they were mashed, I sprinkled some fresh lemon juice all over and served with some pan gravy along the top.
13. The lamb can be sliced with either a serrated or long carving knife.  Serving size is between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick.  Don't forget to take off the mesh wrapping before you carve! ;)  Once both the meat and any side dish is on the plate, drizzle the gravy across them.  If you would like, you can garnish with either lemon zest or chopped parsley.
14. Enjoy!