Seven-Hour Leg of Lamb Roast

I’m not Greek, but I sure do love my lamb. For Greek Easter this year, I was unable to join my friends in Boston for a full-on lamb roast because of new responsibilities at home (read: a new Rottweiler). But I didn’t want to miss the celebration so I biked over to Fairway supermarket, bought a highly-marked up leg of lamb for $34 and roasted it for seven hours while I walked the dog out, ran errands at Home Depot, and gardened the rest of the day.

Ingredients:
1 3 to 4-lb lamb leg
2 red onions, quartered
2 sprigs of rosemary
olive oil
salt, pepper

For the dressing:
a handful of basil leaves
a handful of parsley
a handful of mint leaves
1 tsp stone grain mustard
a jigger of sherry vinegar
1 tbsp capers, rinsed
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup of olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 315º. Meanwhile, place the lamb in an aluminum-lined roast pan. Using a small sharp knife, make about 12 small but deep slits all throughout the meat and stuff them with garlic and rosemary leaves. Rub the entire lamb with olive oil using your hands and generously roll in salt and pepper.
2. Cover the pan loosely with more foil, lightly tucking the foil around the pan. Roast in the oven for 7 hours, or until the meat is soft and falls off the bone with a gentle prod of a fork.
3. While lamb is cooking, make the dressing. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender while slowly drizzling the olive oil to create a consistency similar to a runny pesto. Season to taste.
4. Gently remove lamb from the oven and let it rest on a chopping block for about 20 minutes. Transfer to a plate to serve with the dressing on the side, or pull the meat apart with your hands and divide among your guests and drizzle the dressing all over.