Simple Roast Leg of Lamb with Mint Sauce

Make things easy on yourself, buy a 5-6 lb. boneless leg of lamb at Costco with the elastic netting around it.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Pat the lamb dry with paper towels and stab (!) it all over with a paring knife.  Slice about six garlic cloves very thin and stuff the slivers into the holes, and also in the cavity where the bone was.  Take a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and stuff them in the cavity, too, then take fresh rosemary leaves and stuff the holes that don't have garlic in them.  Rub the lamb with olive oil and season with Kosher salt.  Place fat side up on a roasting rack in a roasting pan with enough water in it so that it is just below the lamb.  Cook for about half an hour then reduce the tempearture to 375.  Use a meat thermometer to determine when it is done -- I go with about 135 for rare.  Should take about an hour and a half, but check it.  Also, you may need to add more water as it roasts.  The steam keeps everything very moist and also makes cleaning the pan easier.  The fat should get a bit crispy.  Let the lamb rest under foil for about fifteen minutes before slicing.  You are going to love it, I promise.

Now, for the mint sauce, this is a simplified variation of something I read in F&W or Epicurious at some point.  Soak about 3/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves and a minced shallot in a quarter cup of vinegar, with a teaspoon of sugar dissolved in it, for a few hours.  Place on high heat and add two cups of low sodium beef broth, bring to a boil, then simmer until reduced by half.  Strain the sauce and place over high heat.  Dissolve a teaspoon of corn starch in two teaspoons of water and whisk that into the sauce, which will thicken quickly.  Add water if it gets too thick.  Remove from the heat and stir in about 1/4 cup of chopped fresh mint leaves.  Put the sauce in a gravy boat and pour a little over the lamb when you serve it.

We enjoyed the lamb with plain white rice and spinach sauteed in garlic and butter with a squeeze of lemon juice (oh, I put some lemon zest in the spinach, too).