Roast lamb with herbs and mead
1 Leg of lamb
10-12 leaves from white turnips, washed and still wet
For the herb mixture:
Garden Angelica (wild celery)
Lemon thyme
Salt
Chives
Garlic
Onion
Mead
Mix the herbs in a mortar to make a pesto.
Lay out turnip leaves on the table.
Remove the bone from the leg of lamb and flatten it out. Add the herb pesto to cover and roll up the piece of meat. Then wrap it tightly in the turnip leaves and tie with lime bast to make a parcel.
This roast was cooked in the Viking baking oven. The 'parcel' was placed on an iron skillet and roasted for just under 2 hours in the back of the oven, where the temperature is at its highest, about 200c, which kills the soil bacterias. Allow 1.5 hours per kilo in cooking time. If you are using a modern oven, 1 hour per kilo will do.
Remove the 'parcel' from the oven, discard the burnt leaves to reveal the tender meat inside.
These lamb en croutes were baked at the same time in the Viking oven:
Lamb en croute with white turnips
White turnips, diced
2 lamb tenderloins each cut in two
For the dough:
Wheat flour
Spelt flour
Honey
Salt
Mix well to form a good dough and leave to rest for 30 min.
Roll out some dough to wrap around a piece of meat and some diced turnips.
We baked these lamb en croutes in the front of the Viking oven during the same time it took for the roast to cook. The temperature in the front is a bit lower than in the back.
Leg of lamb baked in salt dough
1 leg of lamb
Herbs of your choice
Garlic
For the dough:
Wheat flour and salt, half and half
Water
Egg
Polish the leg of lamb and cut small pockets into the flesh by piercing it with a sharp knife. Stuff each pocket with herbs and garlic.
Make the salt dough and make sure it is firm and feels slightly dry, like Play-Doh.
Roll out the salt crust to wrap and enclose the meat. Press the seams together.
Place the leg of lamb, now wrapped in salt crust, on live coals. Bake for about two hours. If the crust cracks, you can patch it with a piece of left-over dough.
To serve, cut off the top of the crust and leave the roast to rest for a little while. Then with a fork gently lift out the roast onto a carving board.
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