Slow Cooked Lamb Leg With Tomatoes

Easy Provençal Lamb

August 23, 2010

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Easy Provençal Lamb Quentin Bacon

My friend Myriam Richard-Delorme in Paris is a great cook and she gave me this recipe. All you do is put a leg of lamb in a roasting pan with lots of cut-up tomatoes, onions, garlic, rosemary—and then pour honey over it to caramelize the lamb and tomatoes while they roast. Everything cooks in one pan and a few hours later I have the most succulent roast lamb, plus the tomatoes and pan juices become the vegetable and the sauce. OMG is it fabulous!

Ingredients

Makes 8

1 (6- to 7-pound) bone-in leg of lamb, trimmed and tied

1/2 cup Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons chopped garlic (9 cloves), divided

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 pounds ripe red tomatoes, cored and 1-inch diced

1/2 cup good olive oil

1/2 cup good honey (see note), divided

1 large Spanish onion, sliced

4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

Note: You'll want to use a liquid—rather than a solid—honey for this recipe so it can be drizzled on the lamb.

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Step 2

Place the leg of lamb in a large roasting pan fat side up and pat it dry with paper towels. Combine the mustard, 1 tablespoon of garlic, the rosemary, balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper in a mini food processor and pulse until the garlic and rosemary are minced. Spread the mixture on the lamb.

Step 3

Place the tomatoes, olive oil, 1/4 cup of the honey, the onion, the remaining 1 tablespoons garlic, 2 tablespoons salt, and 2 teaspoons pepper in a bowl and toss well. Pour the tomato mixture around the lamb and tuck in the thyme and rosemary sprigs. Drizzle the lamb with the remaining 1/4 cup of honey.

Step 4

Roast for 20 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees and roast for another 1 to 1 1/4 hours, until a meat thermometer registers 130 to 135 degrees for medium-rare. Place the lamb on a cutting board, cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Discard the herb stems and return the tomatoes to the oven to keep warm. Slice the lamb, arrange on a platter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve with the tomatoes and pan juices spooned on top.

How would you rate Easy Provençal Lamb?

Reviews (64)

Easily one of my top ten all time recipes. I make it every spring. I've learned to get the butcher to debone the leg and then rewrap and tie it with the bone back in. That way I can unwrap it, coat the inside with half the marinade, return the bone, rewrap, tie and coat the outside with the rest of the marinade. The rewrapping etc. is neither difficult or terribly time consuming. After I roast and rest the lamb I cut the string, remove the bone and the meat unfolds almost flat for easy perfect slicing. I then nestle the slices back into the tomato mixture, sprinkle with a gremolata and serve the beautifully coated slices with a large serving spoon.
Fantastic and really simple. Only recommendation I would make is to do 2-3X the tomato onion mixture as mine reduced quite a bit. Served with polenta. Would make again for sure.
I made this last night and it was delicious. I had two smaller boneless legs of lamb (about 2 lbs each). I prepared them as written except I only had dried herbs so I used about half the quantity. I cooked it as directed but the smaller roasts only needed 30 minutes at 350 (after turning it down from 450 for the first 20 minutes). The meat was fantastic and the sauce was delicious. I thought it would be too sweet from all of the honey, but it wasn't. It was just perfect with the gamey flavor of the lamb. I would DEFINITELY make this recipe again. I served it with roasted Brussels sprouts and a salad of baby greens, pears and goat cheese. It was a lovely winter meal.
Thanks so much, this recipe is the new favorite. The tomatoes were delicious and the Dijon sauce and honey made the dish incredible. Miss Ina has outdone herself again!
Absolutely delicious. Enjoyed for Easter dinner along with honey glazed brussel sprouts (also on Epi), and together they fit the occasion. Covered the meat in the mixture about 3 hours ahead of time as another user mentioned, which worked out well. Flavors were fantastic, very classic French, and the tomato mixture was so good it competed with the meat. Will definitely make again.
most disappointing. Not worth the effort. Will not make it again
This recipe gets me more raves than anything else. It's easy and absolutely wonderful.
Excellent. We make leg of lamb a few times per year and this may have been the best one yet.
Fantastic recipe -- I used my slow cooker for it and cut the lamb into large chunks. Like others I also added Herbes de Provence. The outcome was fabulous.
We make this amazing dish at least once a month now and get the biggest leg so we can make stew with the leftovers. So simple, so delicious.
Simple and amazingly delicious.
Fabulous recipe! I made this at Easter and my lamb was 'melt in your mouth'. Love this and my go to recipe for leg of lamb.
Easy and delicious, as advertised. I cooked a half leg of lamb, but didn't half the recipe following some suggestions of some earlier reviewers. Next time I may cut the mustard glaze by half. I used a large roasting pan, muir diced tomatoes & a few fresh tomatoes and threw in some cut up potatoes when I turned the oven down to 350. Delicious.
So delicious and so easy. A keeper.
Made this using boneless leg of lamb and herbs de provence instead of rosemary and thyme. Marinated the lamb for several hours before roasting. Delicious!