David Chang’s Dinner Time Live Will Get You Cooking

Herbed Leg Of Lamb

Put the oregano, rosemary, garlic, lemon and orange zest, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons orange juice, olive oil and salt in a bowl and blend using a stick blender (alternatively, use a small food processor). Spoon this over the lamb and rub in well. Leave at room temperature for 45 minutes.

Slow Roast Leg Of Lamb With Herb Rub

Preheat the oven to 160C/Fan 140-150C/Gas 3. Separate and peel the garlic cloves, and crush them with the salt in a pestle and mortar. You need enough salt to give the mixture some grit. Mash the garlic into the salt. Add the rosemary and thyme, then mix with enough olive oil to make a thick paste.

Slow-cooked Butterflied Leg Of Lamb With Sichuan Peppercorn Spice Rub

This Sichuan peppercorn spice rub offers an unusual but delicious variation to the usual leg of lamb. The meat goes very well with spring onion pancakes or naan, but, if you don't feel like making those, serve it with cumin-flecked rice pilaf.

Have the butcher butterfly the leg of lamb, so it's of a fairly even thickness. It will never be perfectly even, though, but that's OK because not everyone likes their meat medium-rare, and the thinner parts will be more well done.

If you have time, salt the lamb in the fridge overnight, so the seasoning has time to penetrate into the meat.

Slow-cooking a large cut of meat has the advantage of less shrinkage, and cooking it more evenly. Obviously, though, it takes longer than when roasting it at the more conventional 180° C (350°F) or higher. A slow-cooked leg of lamb will take about six hours to cook. If it's ready before you want to serve it, leave it at room temperature for about an hour or two, then crank up the oven heat and cook the meat briefly, to brown the exterior.

Behind the spice and numbness of Sichuan dishes, lies a dark and bloody history of wars and conflicts. Listen more on Eat Drink Asia podcast about this cuisine of diversity and excitement.

Buy Sichuan peppercorns on the Goldthread shop.

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