Lift your roast game with a moist stuffed leg of lamb with sweet rosemary herb pinenut filling and tips on picking a good leg of lamb. Australia has long had a love affair with roast lamb and the joyous prospect of a regular Sunday lamb roast is a traditional feast.  Roasting lamb has a delicious aroma, and it is certainly a favourite in my household.

This recipe for a stuffed leg of lamb sweet rosemary herb pinenut filling along with some tips for picking a good leg of lamb comes from chef Sarah Glover, the author of WILD: Adventure Cookbook and an ambassador for Traeger Grills Australia*.

Stuffing a boned leg of lamb with herb filling adds so much flavour to the finished roast and is just as good cold the next day if you have any leftovers.

Stuffed leg of lamb with rosemary and lemon lamb rub

How to cook lamb

What are we aiming for here? Mild, flavour-filled meat with a tender texture and a delightful rosy hue, medium-rare colour from the edge to the centre, with an exterior of crisp, brown fat.

Mild, flavour-filled meat with a tender texture and a delightful rosy hue, medium rare colour from the edge to the centre, with an exterior of crisp, brown fat.

Start with a boned leg of lamb with a good layer of fat.  The fat will render down during cooking to keep the meat moist and also provide that delicious crisp crust that makes your roast lamb a memorable dish. If there is interior fat in your boned lamb leg, you may want to remove it to prevent the roast from being too greasy.

Rolling and tying the roast up with seasoning inside and securing with string is easy and creates a consistent shape.  This means the roast will cook more evenly.

Lamb roasting on a Traeger Grill.

Top tips for picking a good leg of lamb

Chef Sarah Glover has some excellent tips for picking a good leg of lamb and cooking it to perfection.

  • First and foremost, ensure you are buying your lamb for the local butcher! They will have the best produce on hand.
  • Ask your butcher where the lamb is from and make sure it is local to the area or at least lamb of Australia.
  • Ask the butcher to debone it for you if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself.
  • Try to get a leg of lamb with as much fat as you can on it, as it will add flavour and moisture to your cooking

“This Stuffed leg of lamb with rosemary and lemon lamb rub recipe is a great way to inject flavour and texture and to put a spin on your regular leg of lamb,” says Sarah.

Prepare this the night before so it’s ready to just pop in the grill.

“The best part is that is easy and quick and easy your friends and family will be going back for seconds maybe even thirds. I often prepare this the night before so it’s ready to just pop in the grill. Add some potatoes and a salad and you have a BBQ feast like no other.

“When cooking this particular lamb recipe, and others like it, I recommend using a Traeger Grill, which use 100 per cent all-natural hardwood pellets to infuse the food with flavourful smoke.”

Stuffed leg of lamb

How to cook lamb

Using a meat thermometer is the best way to tell when the stuffed leg of lamb with sweet rosemary pinenut filling is done. Here’s a guide to your favourite level of doneness.

  • Rare – 50 Celsius (120 Fahrenheit)- bright red, slippery meat inside with unrendered intermuscular fat.
  • Medium rare – 55 Celsius (130 Fahrenheit) – meat just turning pink, but firm, moist and juicy.
  • Medium well – 65 Celsius (150 Fahrenheit) – meat a solid rosy pink and firm to touch but still moist with fat fully rendered.
  • Well done – 70 Celsius (160 Fahrenheit) – grey and lifeless meat with a chewy texture with fat fully rendered away from the meat taking the flavour with it.

I take my lamb out of the oven when the temperature reaches 50 and then let it sit for up to 30 minutes covered in foil.  This gives you a tender roast that is slightly pink inside yet cooked on the outside.

Stuffed leg of lamb with rosemary and lemon rub sliced
Yield: 6 serves

STUFFED LEG OF LAMB WITH SWEET ROSEMARY PINENUT HERB FILLING

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Additional Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 25 minutes

Lift your roast game with a moist stuffed leg of lamb with sweet rosemary herb pinenut filling and tips on picking a good leg of lamb. Australia has long had a love affair with roast lamb and the joyous prospect of a regular Sunday lamb roast is a traditional feast.  Roasting lamb has a delicious aroma, and it is certainly a favourite in my household.

Ingredients

  • INGREDIENTS
  • 2- 3 kg deboned leg of lamb
  • olive oil and seasoning
  • For the stuffing
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 red onion, finely diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 cup toasted pinenuts
  • 1/4 cup dried currants
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
  • 1/2 bunch thyme
  • 1/2 bunch rosemary leaves
  • 1/2 cup grated pecorino Romano
  • 2 cups homemade breadcrumbs
  • freshly ground pepper

Instructions

  1. Remove the lamb from the fridge two hours before cooking to allow it to come to room temperature. Season well. Preheat your Treager Grill* or oven to 180C.
  2. For the stuffing – heat one tablespoon of oil in a frying pan on low heat. Then add onion, garlic and salt and cook until softened. This should take about 10 minutes. Add pinenuts and currants, cook for a further minute, and then add the honey and red wine vinegar. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
  3. Pick the leaves from the parsley and rosemary and chop. Place them in a food processor and blend while slowly pouring in the remaining oil. Add the pecorino cheese and pulse a few times. Then add the breadcrumbs pulsing the food processor again until it just comes together. Remove the mixture and combine with the cooled pinenuts and currants. Check the seasoning.
  4. Place deboned lamb, fat side down, on a chopping board. Put the stuffing evenly distributed in the middle along the whole length of the lamb. Roll lamb up from one long side to the other. Tie it with string along the length of the rolled-up leg at three-centimetre intervals. Rub it with oil and put in a large roasting tin.
  5. Cook the lamb for 30 minutes, then reduce temperature to 160C. After about 40 more minutes, start checking the core temperature of the meat with a thermometer. Continue to roast until it reaches about 55 to 56C, then remove and rest for 30 minutes.
  6. To serve, remove string, slice and serve with any juices from the roasting pan.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 2546Total Fat: 162gSaturated Fat: 62gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 87gCholesterol: 782mgSodium: 1385mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 3gSugar: 10gProtein: 221g
Stuffed leg of lamb with rosemary and lemon rub sliced