Image - Mark Chew

Everyone has their own way with a leg of lamb, but we're inclined to think Maggie Beer's way is worth a try. It's from her book Maggie's Spring Harvest, available in today's collection of books and delicious hampers.

Roast leg of Suffolk lamb
1 × 3 kg leg lamb
3 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
¼ cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced lengthways into 4
2 tablespoons sea salt flakes
½ cup (125 ml) verjuice

Remove the lamb from the refrigerator 2 hours before cooking to allow it to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Combine the rosemary and olive oil and then rub all over the lamb skin. Make 12 incisions in the skin evenly over the surface of the lamb and insert garlic slices. Rub liberally with salt.

Place the lamb in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 160°C. Turn the lamb leg over and cook for another 20 minutes. Turn the lamb leg over again and cook for another 30 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the lamb in the oven for 30 minutes with the door ajar.

Remove from the oven, pour off the pan juices into a tall jug and refrigerate the juices to solidify the fat so it can be skimmed from the surface. Leave the lamb to rest in a warm place for another 30 minutes. Remove the fat from the juices, then place the pan juices and verjuice in a saucepan and reduce over high heat to serve as a jus.

Serve with a green olive tapenade and labna.

Extract from Maggie Beer's Spring Harvest Recipes by Maggie Beer, photography by Mark Chew, published by Lantern (2015). RRP $29.99