Roast Lamb Recipe

An all time australian favourite meal would have to be the sunday lamb roast. I love the mild taste of lamb and it is always on the menu at our house. My mum's was just the best way of cooking it and if you roast it this way, you will never go back to using any type of fat in cooking it. Mum's secret is in using orange juice in cooking the lamb. It gives it the most beautiful flavour and also helps to make the juices a lovely dark colour when making the gravy.
I always have roast vegetables such as potatoes and pumpkin with my lamb as well as some steamed vegetables. If you do roast veges, half cook them in the microwave first, then for the last 45 minutes add them to your baking dish with the lamb and turn once during cooking. I have added my recipes for home made gravy and mint sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

1 leg of spring lamb with shank attached
1 orange
1 tablespoon plain flour
1/2 cup water
mint sauce

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 200C
Place lamb in a large baking dish with the water.
Sprinkle flour over top of lamb.
Squeeze the juice of the orange over this.
Bake in the oven for around 1 hour. Reduce heat a little if it starts to burn.
If needed, add a little more water so as it doesn't dry out on the bottom of the pan.
Turn meat over for the last 30 minutes.
It should take around 2 hours to cook a medium size roast.
Serve with your vegetables, home made gravy.and mint sauce.

HOME MADE GRAVY:

Place your baking dish on top of stove and heat the juices left in the pan until bubbling. Add some salt and black pepper to pan and then add about a tablespoon plain flour to it. Quickly stir through with a fork until the flour is mixed well into the juices. You need to cook the flour before you add the water. Quickly, all at once, add about 1 cup water and continue mixing through with the fork. It doesn't matter if it looks lumpy at this stage as when it begins to boil, the lumps will disappear.Heat through until nice and smooth. If it is too thick, add some more water, a little at a time until you get the desired consistency of your gravy. It doesn't matter if you have little bits of meat or vegetables in this that may have stuck to your baking dish while cooking as this adds to the lovely flavour.
Once you have tasted home made gravies, you will never use packet ones again.

MINT SAUCE:

a handful of mint sprigs
couple teaspoons sugar
vinegar
salt and black pepper
water
Remove the mint leaves from the sprigs.
On a cutting board, place mint, sugar, salt and pepper and chop up finely. The juice from the mint will come out with the sugar, making it easier to chop up.
When all chopped up, place in a small jug and add a couple teaspoons vinegar and about 1/4 cup water. Taste to see if it is how you like it and if it needs it you can add a little more vinegar, sugar and or water to it.