BBQ Lamb a la Wog

In a hat tip to Australia day, and the forthcoming Canberra multi-cultural festival, I present you with this recipe in honour of our immigrant communities, and our sheep. In titling this post, I trust that years of "Wogs out of Work" and other comedians have sufficiently moved this epithet away from insult to a joke that a Skip may use.

So, anyway, roasting lamb is fine and good, but a roast dinner is a bit heavy for this weather. BBQ lamb and salad is the ticket - and it's really very easy. I bought a pre-made one from Meatways a while ago, and that inspired me to make my own. The salad in the picture is a random assembly from what salad fixings I found in the fridge - baby spinach, cucumber, tomato, avocado, olives. But to keep it in theme it was dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.

Recipe: BBQ lamb with lemon and herbs
1 small leg of lamb, butterflied. (About 1.2kg)
3 large lemons
6 medium cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fruity extra virgin olive oil
a loose half cup of chopped fresh herbs: parsley, oregano and a bit of basil.

Zest 2 of the lemons thoroughly, or three half-arsedly.
Juice the lemons, and crush the garlic
Mix everything except the lamb together.
Remove any large obvious chunks of fat and tendon from the lamb.
Place in a non-reactive container, and pour over the marinade mix.
Smoosh it around to coat, and leave for at least 3 and up to 36 hours. Turn it over occasionally.
When ready to cook, heat BBQ to a medium low flame.
Scrape off most of the herbs, and plonk the lamb on the BBQ, and leave it alone for ten minutes.
Turn it over and drizzle with some of the liquid from the marinade, or a bit of extra oil & lemon.
Leave to cook the other side - 5 minutes is enough for rare; up to 15 minutes for well-done.
Remove from heat, wrap in foil and leave in a warm place to rest for at least 15 minutes.
Slice across the grain. Serve as a pile of slices, not a big chunk.

Notes: A Greek salad would be the perfect accompaniment, of course.

We had part of this one night, cooked on the cast iron grill inside, with salad, pita bread and a dollop of bought hommous. And I took the rest to a BBQ on Friday, where our host and fellow guests added BBQ corn and asparagus, a sweet potato and chickpea salad, and a carrot and zucchini salad. And some other meats. All good stuff. I drank a few too many purple champagnes, though.