Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb

Spring grilling is in the air! Longer days and warmer temperatures provide plenty of opportunities to use that outdoor kitchen for entertaining family and friends. A perfect dish for these perfect evenings is Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb. With a shorter cooking time than traditional leg of lamb, this meal is perfect for easy entertaining as the different sections of meat finish with various levels of doneness to suit everyone’s preferences.

The spices and marinade really put this lamb over the top. Coriander and curry spices are lightly toasted in a sauté pan for a couple minutes, and then combined with garlic past, ginger, sherry olive oil, honey, and pepper to form the marinade. The lamb is allowed to marinate for several hours bringing rich, robust, and nutty flavors to this more delicate meat. Once the flavors have penetrated the lamb, it is grilled over medium-hot heat for about 10 minutes on one side and then 7-10 minutes on the other depending on desired doneness. The resulting lamb is tender, juicy, and bursting with savory, sweet notes. So plan that next get together with family and friends and prepare to amaze them with your barbecue prowess.

Serves 8-16

Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb Ingredients

  • 7 cloves garlic
  • 2 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 Tbs. coriander seeds, cracked or coarsely ground
  • 1-1/2 Tbs. sweet curry powder
  • 2 Tbs. finely chopped fresh ginger
  • 1 cup dry sherry
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 Tbs. honey
  • 1 Tbs. freshly cracked black pepper
  • 1 boneless butterflied leg of lamb, 3 to 5 lb., trimmed of excess fat, rinsed, and patted dry
  • 6 sprigs fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Finely chop the garlic, sprinkle the salt over it, and mash with the flat side of the knife to make a paste. Put the cracked coriander and curry powder in a cold, dry sauté pan and set it over medium-low heat. Shake the pan a few times while the spices toast until they have a strong nutty smell, 1 to 3 minutes. Don’t let them burn.
  2. In a small bowl, mix the garlic paste, toasted spices, ginger, sherry olive oil, honey, and pepper until the mixture resembles a somewhat thin, grainy soup.
  3. If you like, separate the lamb along its natural seams into smaller, easier-to-handle pieces. Put the lamb in a shallow nonreactive baking dish and pour the marinade over the meat. Cover with plastic wrap, set aside, and let the flavors penetrate the meat for 2 hours at room temperature (or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator). Turn the meat twice during the marinating time.

Grill the lamb

  1. Prepare a medium-hot charcoal fire or gas grill. Grill the lamb on one side until nicely charred, about 10 minutes. Turn the meat over and continue grilling until an instant-read thermometer inserted into a thick section of the meat registers 130° to 135°F for medium rare, 7 to 12 min., depending on what type of grill you use (If you like your lamb cooked to medium, continue grilling until the meat’s temperature reaches 140° to 145°F; for medium well, 150° to 155°F.)
  2. Transfer the lamb to a tray or carving board, and let it rest for 8 to 10 min. Carve the lamb across the grain into 1/4-inch slices. Arrange the slices on a platter, drizzle with the juices that accumulated during resting, and sprinkle with the cilantro before serving.

Taken from FineCooking.com
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/grilled-butterflied-leg-of-lamb.aspx?nterms=53276,52336

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