Lamb is a classic meat to serve on a roast in spring, and perfect for Easter. Lamb can be very expensive, but currently, Iceland is selling a 1.8kg frozen leg of ‘luxury New Zealand’ lamb for £12.50, down from £25.
When the team at the frozen food specialists offered to send some to test, I thought this would be a great dry run for Easter Sunday but I came across a problem that I will come to shortly. Firstly, I was impressed with the size for £12.50 and on receiving the lamb on Friday evening I put it straight in the fridge so that it could defrost in time for Sunday. Once defrosted, you should cook the meat within 48 hours.
And this is where my issue arose. When Sunday came I had been struck down with Covid and had lost my sense of taste and smell, so for some of this review, we are relying on the tastebuds of my husband, teenage son and four-year-old – brace yourself.
It is easy to feel intimidated by a huge leg of lamb, but we roasted it in the most simple and easy way.
After seasoning the lamb, we placed it on a roasting dish that had some root vegetables in the bottom, this was so my husband could make a stock with it.
It was covered in foil and cooked on gas mark six or 200°C (180°C fan) for one hour, then uncovered and cooked for another hour or until the juices run clear – that’s it, so it is fairly low maintenance, really.
Once out of the oven, leave to rest for a good 20 minutes before carving.
After carving it was served with all the usual favourites you would find on a roast, including some McCain Triple Cooked Roast Potatoes (£1,75 down from £3.50 for 1kg at Iceland) which we found a little dry on the inside and Aunt Bessie’s Proper Good Yorkshires (£1.25 down from £2.50 for a pack of 10), but we have had the cheaper varieties and think that are just as good if you are going to go for a frozen version.
Of course, I still had my dinner despite covid, and the meat looked good, still a little pink in the middle and seemed to stay nice and moist. I thought the texture was good, but apparently, I missed out on the flavour.
According to my husband and teenager, the lamb had a really good flavour that was a little bit rich and gamey but also light and earthy – exactly what you would want from a good piece of lamb.
My five-year-old has never had lamb before – it’s expensive – and is perhaps the most discerning around our dinner table and said he “liked it” (high praise) but didn’t like any of the fatty bits, of which there were a few, it helps with flavour and perhaps on a more expensive piece of lamb there would be less fat, but it wasn’t gristly in any way.
And there was a good amount of meat on the bone. We had enough for extra dinners, which my husband plated up and did his own version of ‘meals on wheels’ delivering a delicious roast to his mum and my nan.
We then also had leftovers for some elite sandwiches and he used the bone and left over veg from the roasting dish to make a delicious lamb soup the next day.
By then my tastebuds were starting to wake from their covid-induced slumber and I could get a sense of the sweetness from the meat in the broth – excellent for £12.50.
I would never have thought to buy a frozen leg of lamb, but this is a great investment for the number of meals we were able to get out of it – at least six roast dinners, four good sandwiches and a huge pot of soup that had small pieces of the leftover meat.
If you fancy giving a lamb roast a go this Easter be sure to pick up your frozen leg from Iceland on Friday at the latest so you can defrost and enjoy for lunch on the Sunday.