Easter inspiration: Angela Hartnett's recipe for Roast

Easter is one of hunger-making smells; the spice of hot cross buns, the sugary sweetness from the chocolate eggs, the hint of almonds from slices of simnal cake. None top the main attraction; a leg of lamb roasting in the oven, ideally studded with great slices of garlic and prickled with rosemary tines. Here, Murano's Angela Hartnett shares her recipe. The main thing is to keep it simple: "Lamb goes so well with garlic and rosemary that there’s no point in complicating matters by adding other powerful flavours," she says. As for the bone-in, bone-out question, Hartnett is laissez-faire: "Cooking the lamb on the bone helps the join to retain its natural shape – but it’ll work boned, which makes carving easier." In other words, do it whichever way you fancy. It's Easter, after all. If you can't cook this year, or are struggling to get your hands on a leg of lamb, read our guide to restaurants delivering over the weekend. 

Serves: 

4 Ingredients 

1 leg of lamb 

8 cloves of garlic, sliced, plus two garlic bulbs 

5 sprigs fresh rosemary 

8 carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthways 

Olive oil Salt, 

freshly ground black pepper 

Method 

Heat the oven to 220C/Gas mark 7. Make slits all over the lamb and place a few slices of garlic and a few rosemary needles in each slit, then season the lamb all over. Pour a healthy slug or two of olive oil in a large roasting tin. Add the garlic bulbs, remaining rosemary and carrots, and toss it all to ensure it’s all coated. Sit the lamb in the tin, and roast in the oven for 15 minutes before turning the heat down to 180C/Gas Mark 4 for another hour and 45 minutes. This does depend on the size of your leg of lamb - basically, it’s 20 minutes per 450g, with 20 minutes over, but it all depends on how pink you like your meat. Finally, remove the lamb from the oven, let it rest for up to quarter of an hour and reserve the juices to pour over the meat on serving.