Recipes from professional Chef Tallyrand:

BUTTERFLIED LEG OF LAMB

Spit that roast but BBQ that lamb, beef, steaks, pork and fish . . .

The BBQ is such a versatile piece of equipment and it constantly amazes me that many people have one but few use it to any where near its capacity. Steaks and sausages seem to be the norm, but what about all those other foods?

• lamb chops

• lamb legs

• pork chops

• pork legs

• whole fish

• fish steaks and fillets

• lobster

• scallops

• king prawns

• oysters in their shell

• and of course there are numerous vegetables that just lend themselves beautifully to the BBQ, like; courgettes, aubergine (eggplant), onions, shallots, elephant garlic, pumpkin and potatoes

I will be covering all these foods in the coming weeks, with recipes and tips. But this week I thought I would start with a leg of lamb, well I am a Welshman in New Zealand!

Don’t have a BBQ? Its not BBQ weather where you are? It decides to rain on the day you decide to throw a BBQ? Not to worry, these recipes will also suit cooking on the grill in your kitchen or in the oven. Its amazing what a little imagination will do, just throw an indoor BBQ party with blankets and cushions on the floor in the dining room!

I myself have just purchased an amazing little BBQ from Canada; it is well constructed and designed, portable, heats up to cooking temperature in just a few minutes with a battery powered fan and best of all it uses wood as its heat source. I am passionate about BBQ’s using wood; it imparts wonderful flavours to the food. I really do not see the point in gas BBQ’s, dead charcoal ones etc, one might as well cook inside on the stove. Sure they look great, are convenient and easy to clean but at what expense? The expense of the true flavours of barbecued, I say. But to each their own I suppose.

With this new purchase of mine, it has all the conveniences of gas etc but allows the foods cooked to have the true taste of BBQ, to have that unique smokiness in flavour and if I need to, I can cook with it indoors. It gives off little or no bottom heat, so I can place it on the stove and with a window open the little smoke it gives off is no problem . . . indeed it adds to the occasion by adding a luxurious aroma everywhere in the house. Where did I find this little gem? . . . from one of those infomercials of all places! I was up late typing some recipes one night and on it came . . . all too good to be true, I thought. But for $NZ150, ($US75 or £50) I thought what is there to lose? It arrived, I tried it and it worked as advertised. So my first piece of BBQ advice is get a good one to start with. Go for a wood burner, forgo a little convenience, suffer a little cleaning up and you will start to explore and enjoy the flavour that is wood.

Butterflied leg of lamb

If you are not proficient at doing it yourself, have your butcher butterfly the leg a lamb. This entails removing the bone and opening it right up so it lays flat, (it should not be more than 5 cm thick) this allows for the quicker cooking of a BBQ. I like to then cut deep slits into it to allow even deeper and quicker heat penetration.

Ingredients for Butterflied Leg of Lamb

leg of lamb	1	pc
fresh rosemary sprigs	12	pc
garlic cloves	12	pc

How to make Butterflied Leg of Lamb

1.	Pierce deep cuts into the meat with a knife or skewer and into each cut, place a sprig of rosemary and into another an un-peeled clove of garlic
2.	Season the leg all over with salt and pepper: (I love to use Maldon sea salt and freshly ground white pepper)
3.	Place a double layer of tin foil on the bench and fold in all the sides by 5mm and fold again, just to form a seal. This sheet should be approx. 5cm larger than the leg
4.	Repeat with another two sheets
5.	Grease the tin foil sheets with either butter, virgin olive oil or a combination of both and sprinkle lightly with some more salt and pepper
6.	Place the leg onto one sheet, cover with the remaining sheet and fold the two edges together to form a seal; just as if you were crimping pastry basically. Ensure the seals are tight so as to retain all the cooking juices and fat that will render down during cooking
7.	Allow this to sit on the bench for 1 hour so it comes up to room temperature; this will reduce the cooking time
8.	Place on the bbq, (high heat) and cook for 10 minutes with the lid off and then 30 - 40 minutes with the lid on and at a lower heat.
9.	Once cooked, remove it from the bbq and allow it to rest in a warm place for 10 minutes before serving. This allows the meats tendons, muscles etc to relax and makes the meat more palatable, tender, easier to cut and retain its juices once cut
10.	For a really juicy, succulent leg meat serve it slightly pink

Chef's Tip on Butterflied Leg of Lamb

If the leg once butterflied and opened up is too big for the size of tin foil you can get, cut it down into 3 or 4 pieces

Adding a layer of finely cut/sliced vegetables to the lamb before wrapping it, can add greatly to the presentation, when you open it up in front of your guests.

Enjoy and bon appetit . . . . .

Published 30 July 2001