Fantastic recipe! Would've given it a 5 if I didn't find it a bit bland too so instead of fennel I used my old "cure all" Montreal Steak Spice on the outside. Perfect!
I cooked this last night and it turned out beautiful and tasted great. Got wonderful compliments. I softened the goat cheese and stirred in some fresh rosemary thyme parslel and a couple minced garlic cloves before spreading it onto the spinach. Also used Lawry's Seasoned Pepper in the flour mixture and put more on the surface before baking. I think this gave it more of the flavor that some reviewers were missing. All in all a wonderful recipe and I'm so glad I found it!!! (Most of us "tweak" everything a bit......doesn't mean the original wouldn't have been great too.)
I eat lamb and this looks amazing. I paired this with red skin mashed potatoes. I opted out on the fennel and used rosemary instead. I'm just not a big fan of fennel seeds.
Took this to a girl friends house and finished putting it together and cooked it on a rotesary (sorry for the spelling) and all loved it.
This recipe provides some very good guidance but falls short in the flavor department (bland). I corrected this by using Penzey's lamb seasoning in addition to the salt and pepper. Loved the spinach & goat cheese filling (I used a peppered goat cheese log from Harley Farms) but I need practice with the whole pounding/rolling process. I think the flour could also be omitted--it made a weird hard crust that seems unnecessary. Thanks for a great idea to get me started!
This was great, but I too had to solve that pesky stuffing problem. So I took a piece of parchment paper and folded an equal length of foil around the outside of it. I laid the roast in the pan with the stuffing cut to one side, fat cap up. Then I oiled the parchment and with the help of the foil--parchment side pressed firmly against the stuffing and meat--molded a shield around the entire exposed cut, which kept the stuffing in pretty effectively without interfering with the roasting process. Viola! No leaky stuffing and a lovely, browned roast.
I also cut down the size of this recipe considerably. Usually, I buy a full, $70 leg of lamb. I cut up some for stew or tajines, cut big chunks for kabobs, and leave the meat under the fat cap for a stuffed, butterflied roast like this one. That leaves me a nice bone to roast for broth and a decent amount of scrap meat for stuffed grape leaves. The only thing that gets thrown out unused is some silver skin. That overpriced leg of lamb becomes a much more economical cut. For this cut-down roast, you can use a 4 oz roll of goat cheese and just eyeball the rest. It should serve 4-6 people generously. I also roast it on top of halved baby new potatoes tossed with olive oil. Scrumptious!
this made a beautiful presentation and the temp/time for baking were right on. Followed the recipe to the letter and it was good lamb but in all needed a little more flavor. Maybe more herbs some mint? more cheese? peppered crust? will certainly make again. thanks!
I would give this 10 stars if I could. The only thing I did differently was omit the pine nuts. This was a beautiful presentation and sooo flavorful. Thank you for an excellent recipe!
WONDERFUL!! Made this for Easter to RAVES! I'd recommend it 100%. People asked to take leftovers home and called me to say there were having it for lunch. We made the recipe "as is" and added cornstarch and wine to the lamb dripping to make a sauce. The lamb was perfect as is.. but the sauce just punched up the flavor. I will make it again! Served with rustic mixed potatoes and asparagus.