Butterflied Lamb Leg Topped with Mediterranean Mint Sauce
The classic combination of the authentic Salsa Verde goes so well with the richness of lamb. Each of the ingredients compliment and enhance the lamb, but being Greek I can stretch to mint with lamb but not basil. So I’ve mixed a combination of mint, parsley, capers, lemon, anchovy fillets and olive oil, a taste of the med in a jug.
At Easter time or catering for friends over the weekend, I love having a delicious meal that looks impressive but is easy to put together. And with a few tweaks people can eat the dish in different ways with minimal effort.
The Butterflied Lamb Leg Topped with Mediterranean Mint Sauce can be made in two ways:
Separately roasting your leg of lamb, shoulder, loin chops or lamb leg steaks with whatever seasoning you like and serving the Mediterranean Mint Sauce on the side, for a little dipping sauce interest. This Mediterranean Mint Sauce can be served on the side instead of traditional mint sauce or for traditionalist with the classic mint sauce.
Or you can make two batches of the sauce as shown below in the recipe, one is used as a marinade and rubbed all over the lamb and cooked with the meat and the other sauce is used as a dipping sauce. It is a mild flavouring, not too over powering, but enhances the meat and cuts through the richness of the lamb which makes it delicious to eat together.
- Butterflied Lamb Leg weight of your choice (1.2kg is the one shown)
- For the lamb marinade
- 2 anchovy fillets
- 1 teaspoon caper
- ½ teaspoon dried English mustard
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- ½ lemon juiced
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 30g parsley
- 15g mint
- For the sauce
- 15g flat leaf parsley
- 1 anchovy fillet
- 1 teaspoon caper
- ½ teaspoon dried English mustard
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- ½ lemon juiced (minimum 3 tablespoons)
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 8g fresh mint leaves
- For the lamb marinade:
- Make the marinade either by chopping all the ingredients by hand and mixing in the lemon juice and olive oil to make a paste.
- Or adding all the ingredients to a food processor and blending until coarsely chopped.
- Making sure the lemon juice and olive oil amalgamate into the herbs.
- Rub over your chosen piece of lamb and roast according to the instructions on your packet.
- For the sauce
- Add all the herbs, capers, anchovy fillet, garlic and mustard to a food processor and blend until everything is finely chopped.
- Then add the lemon juice and olive oil and blend the mixture again until everything has been amalgamated.
- Serve the lamb with the Mediterranean sauce on the side.
This is a lovely alternative to your usual roast lamb recipes. It is a rustic looking marinade that adds a subtle flavour to your lamb.
