Slow-roast lamb with cinnamon, fennel & citrus

Method8 steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Wash the lemon and orange, grate their zests and keep both zests together in a clean covered container. Juice both fruits into a large food-safe bag with the raw lamb leg. Seal and refrigerate the juice-coated lamb overnight. Refrigerate the reserved zests separately so they never contact raw meat.

   Uses 1 raw leg of lamb · Zest and juice of 1 lemon, kept separately · Zest and juice of 1 orange, kept separately

2. 2

   Step 2: The next day, take the marinated lamb from the refrigerator one hour before cooking. Heat the oven to 220 °C /200 °C fan/gas 7. Keep raw-meat equipment separate from cooked-food utensils.

   Allow the lamb its pre-roast hour · 60 minUses The complete marinated raw lamb bag

3. 3

   Step 3: Lift the lamb from its juice marinade, retaining every bit of that marinade in a separate covered container in the refrigerator. Pat the lamb dry, rub it with only two tablespoons olive oil and roast for fifteen to twenty minutes until browned.

   Brown lamb leg in hot oven · 20 minUses The complete marinated lamb with its retained juice · 2 tbsp olive oil for browning

4. 4

   Step 4: Lift the browned lamb from the oven onto a clean tray and reduce the oven to 160 °C /140 °C fan/gas 3.

   Uses The whole browned leg

5. 5

   Step 5: Peel and crush all three garlic cloves. Mix both reserved clean citrus zests with the remaining two tablespoons olive oil, all the honey, ground cinnamon (1 tbsp), fennel seeds (1 tbsp), ground cumin (1 tbsp) and crushed garlic, plus salt and black pepper to taste. Lay a large sheet of baking parchment over a large sheet of foil.

   Uses All separately refrigerated citrus zests · Remaining 2 tbsp olive oil for paste · 2 tbsp clear honey · 1 tbsp ground cinnamon · 1 tbsp fennel seeds · 1 tbsp ground cumin · 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed · Salt for the citrus-spice paste, to taste

6. 6

   Step 6: Bring all the reserved raw-lamb-contact juice marinade fully to a boil in a small saucepan before reusing it. Sit the browned lamb on the parchment-lined foil and rub all over with the complete citrus-spice paste. Pull up the foil sides, drizzle all the boiled retained marinade into the base and scrunch the foil closed to seal the parcel.

   Uses The whole browned lamb leg · All prepared paste · All retained chilled juice marinade

7. 7

   Step 7: Roast the sealed parcel at 160 °C /140 °C fan for four hours until the lamb is very tender and cooked through. Check the thickest part reaches at least 63 °C /145 °F, continuing until the meat is tender enough to pull apart.

   Slow-roast the sealed lamb parcel · 240 minUses The complete sealed lamb parcel

8. 8

   Step 8: Remove the cooked lamb parcel from the oven and rest it, still wrapped, for thirty minutes. Then unwrap carefully and serve the rested lamb with its cooked parcel juices as six portions.

   Rest the cooked lamb still wrapped · 30 minUses The complete cooked lamb parcel and juices