Winter lamb leg with garlic sauce, fresh herbs and vegetables

Lamb is not only for Easter time... we can enjoy it all year through and in this case is a perfect recipe for a Sunday dinner thanks to the Winter vegetables which give a delicious taste to the final result. Baking the lamb in this way is not traditionally Greek but various Greek chefs the last few years have started introducing this more modern (for the Greeks) approach to a classic dish which gains more and more friends

Ingredients (for 8 portions):
1 lamb leg (bone in), about  2½-3Kg
750ml red dry wine
6 tbsp of olive oil
8 carrots, peeled and cut crosswise in half
8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters
8 medium red onions, peeled and cut in quarters but not all the way through
5-6 large cloves of garlic, skin on
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 2tsp of dried)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or 1½tsp of dried, crushed)
1 bay leaf
salt
black pepper

Method:
You will need one shallow and one deep spacious oven pan.

Leave the meat covered out of the fridge for 30-40 minutes to come to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 250° C.

Make sure that the onions hold their shape when you cut them in quarters.

Pour the olive oil in the shallow pan and put in the oven to get hot for about 5-6 minutes. When ready, add the onions, the potatoes, the carrots and the garlic cloves and toss well with a large spoon so to get evenly covered by the hot oil. Put in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Take the pan out and leave the vegetables on the side.

Keep the oven switched on at the same temperature and place the oven rack on the last position of the oven.

Rub the lamb leg all around with some olive oil. Season on all sides with plenty of salt and pepper and put in the deep oven pan. Put in the oven and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Take out of the oven, pour over with the wine and sprinkle on top with some of the rosemary and thyme leaves. Cover the pan with some aluminium foil, making sure it doesn't touch the meat.

Put the pan back in the oven, turn the temperature down to 170° C and bake the meat for 1½ hours. At this point take the pan out, scatter the pre-roasted vegetables around the meat, add the bay leaf and the rest of the herbs, season with salt and pepper and continue baking for another 1½ hours, this time uncovered.

Arrange the meat and the vegetables on a large serving dish, keeping the garlic cloves separately in a bowl. Cover the food with some foil and leave it to rest for 15-20 minutes.

Pass the food juices through a fine sieve into a small saucepan. Press with your fingers the garlic cloves to free their soften flesh and add it in the saucepan. Boil the sauce in high heat for about 5-6 minuttes, stirring at the same time with a whisk to help the garlic to dissolve in the juices, until the sauce is reduced by half and slightly thickened.

Serve the meat and the vegetables with the garlic gravy seperately.

Note: Feel free to adjust the vegetables to your liking. As most of you know very well sweet potatoes, pumpkin or butternut squash are a perfect match