South African Style Slow-Roast Leg of Lamb with Atchar
South African Style Lamb Leg with Atchar
A Sunday treat and one of my favourite recipes I have developed recently. The weather has been a bit all over the show so while I typically cook this as a winter warmer, summer has not quite yet started in Cape Town.
If you have been following me for a while, you will know that I like to add a South African twist to international favourites. I have made a Spanish paella on a skottel braai and Mexican Quesadillas with Bobotie! This recipe is no exception as I marinaded the leg of lamb in atchar.
It takes a bit of planning and preparation to prepare this dish, as you need to start early in the morning or (even better) the day before, but this really comes out in the flavours!
Ingredients to make a Slow-Roast Leg of Lamb
1½kg deboned lamb leg (butterflied)
200ml white wine
20 g fresh rosemary
20 g fresh mint
3 garlic cloves
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
50ml olive oil
200ml chicken stock
2 cans whole peeled tomatoes
1½ cup mild mango atchar
Sun dried tomatoes to taste
Water chestnuts to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Fresh dill for serving
Cooking Equipment and Kitchen Disposables needed:
Wooden board
Cast Iron Pan
Oven
Butcher’s string
Braising tray
Tinfoil or aluminium foil
Cling wrap
How to Prepare the Slow-Roast Leg of Lamb
Generously cover the the deboned leg of lamb in salt and freshly ground pepper.
Add some twigs of fresh rosemary and some fresh mint leaves.
Chop the mango atchar in smaller pieces and rub this all over the lamb.
Cover the leg of lamb with cling wrap and leave to marinate in the fridge for 24 hours.
Before cooking, take the lamb out of the fridge and allow it to get to room temperature before cooking.
Meanwhile, roughly chop the onions and fry them with some olive oil in a cast iron pan.
Chop the garlic cloves finely and add to the pan when the onions are browning.
Add the onion and garlic mix to a braising tray. Next, add the white wine, bay leaves, chicken stock, and the whole tomatoes.
Scoop the atchar as as much as possible off the leg of lamb. Keep the scooped off atchar aside in a bowl to use again later in the dish.
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius (300 degrees Fahrenheit)
On high heat brown the leg of lamb in the same cast iron pan that you browned the onions and garlic in.
Once browned, lay the leg of lamb on a wooden board and roll it tightly into a neat roll and tie together with butcher’s string.
Add the rolled lamb leg to the braising tray on top of all of the other ingredients.
Spoon the atchar back over the lamb.
Cover the leg with tinfoil and cook at 150 degrees Celsius (300 degrees Fahrenheit) for 4 hours.
When done, take the leg of lamb but leave it to rest for at least 10-15 minutes before cutting into disks.
This dish is best served on a creamy polenta with some of the sauce from the braising tray and the elements (water chestnuts and sun dried tomatoes). Some fresh dill on the plate adds some colour as well as a different texture to the dish. A light salad always goes well with a rich meat dish like this one.
Enjoy! Please tag me on Instagram if you’ve made this recipe, I’d love to see it!
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About Shawn Godfrey
Photo credit: Niki M Photography
Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.
Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.
It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.
On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (7), Olivia (4) and Harvey (2).
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It takes a bit of planning and preparation to prepare this dish, as you need to start early in the morning or (even better) the day before, but this really comes out in the flavours!