Leg of lamb is a popular spring dish in Denmark. We serve our leg of lamb roasted, as “smørrebrød”, complementing the succulent meat with a flavourful tangy-sweet crème of apples and pickled red onions.
RECIPE FOR ROAST LAMB WITH CRÈME OF APPLES AND RED ONIONS
Leg of lamb
1 leg of lamb, deboned (approximately 1 ½ – 1 kg)
½ dl red wine
1 dl rapeseed oil
½ garlic
½ pot of thyme
Black pepper, grinded coarsely
Coarse salt
Butter
Pickled red onions
5 red onions
2 dl sugar
2 dl water
2 dl vinegar
4 bay leaves
10 black pepper corns
Crème of oven-baked apples
5 apples, preferably Danish cooking apples
1 onion
1 tbsp horseradish, freshly grated
Salt, pepper and sugar
Garnish
Fresh herbs, like water cress
12-14 slices of wholegrain rye bread, buttered with salted butter
Leg of lamb
Tie the leg of lamb tightly with a cotton string.
Peel the garlic cloves and chop them finely.
Chop the thyme coarsely.
Mix garlic, thyme, red wine, rapeseed oil and pepper. Spread the mix on the leg of lamb.
Place the lamb in a plastic bag in the fridge for 48 hours. Turn it twice a day.
Take the lamb out of the bag and scrape of the excess garlic and thyme.
Rub the lamb with the salt and pan-fry it at medium heat.
Place the lamb in the oven at 150 degrees.
Roast the lamb for 1-1 ½ hours, depending on how red you want it to be. A core temperature of 60 degrees is normally fine.
Pickled red onions
Place the ingredients for the pickle in a pot and bring it to the boil. Leave it to cool off. Slice the red onions in thin slices and place them in the cooled pickle for 24 hours in the fridge.
Oven-baked crème of apples
Bake the apples and the onion in the oven at 175 degrees for 20 minutes. Leave them to cool off, till you can handle them without burning yourself.
Blend the pulp of the onion and the apples, till the crème has the consistency you prefer.
Add horseradish, salt, pepper, and sugar to your taste.
How to serve it
Slice the leg of lamb in thin slices and arrange the slices on the buttered rye bread.
Shape an “egg” of the apple crème and place it in the middle of the lamb slices, arrange the pickled red onions on top.
Garnish with the fresh herbs.
TIP
You can ask your butcher to debone the leg of lamb or you can debone it yourself. It is important that the lamb is deboned with care, ensuring that it is easy to slice it. Otherwise you risk that the slices will crumble, resulting in a waste of meat.
If you prefer a spicier crème you can add an extra tablespoon of the freshly grated horseradish.
DRINKS
We recommend a dark, aromatic beer, like King’s County Ale or Gamle Københavner (Old Copenhagener) from Nørrebro Bryghus, and a clear aquavit, like Kronborg Akvavit, for the roast lamb.
The recipe for roasted leg of lamb with crème of apples and pickled red onions was originally published at Denmark’s best food blog (they have it on paper ;-)) Gastromand.dk.