Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb in Hay

This is a regular Sunday roast, sometimes with lamb shoulder and sometimes with a whole leg of lamb. The results are very similar, a succulent, sweet roast with a background flavour of fresh hay, mint and rosemary.

It may seem like a long process, but it's not a complex one, ensuring the hay is fresh and clean is the most important part though. Many pet shops sell hay but it's been treated with chemicals, so either spend a lot of time washing it or get your hay direct from source. It still needs a good clean, it's been growing outside!

The second important part is ensuring an airtight seal around the lamb, using a deep roasting pan with a lid is the easier option, but covering with tin foil also works well.

I tied down the lid and used tin foil to seal in the vapour. The lamb cooks on a low, gas mark 2, heat for a good 7 hours. You can do this overnight, but the smells will keep you awake all night.

Once the lamb is tender, almost falling off the bone, take it out of the oven and leave to settle for 30 minutes. Then carefully, and you really do need to be careful as the meat will just fall off, remove the hay from the top. Place the lamb in a fresh roasting pan, carefully removing all traces of hay, this takes a little patience (oooh, Take That).

Place the lamb in a very hot oven to crisp up the outside of the lamb, if using lamb shoulder you could just pull all the meat off and serve in a nice lamb gravy.

Let the lamb rest for a good 30 minutes and serve with some nice seasonal veg. Yum.

1. Lay a bed of hay on a nest made of an onion, carrot, garlic and celery
2. After the first layer of hay, lay a bed of herbs, rosemary, sage, tarragon, parsley
3. Season the meat with salt and black pepper
4. Place some anchovy fillets on top of the lamb before more herbs and the rest of the hay

Easy as 1,2,3 and 4

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