So simple to prepare and always a big hit, this dish was a useful one in our armory at the Eagle and is a perfect alternative to the usually dull bbq staples of sausages and burgers.

The marinade

The marinade is best done in food processor, but one is not essential. If you’ve got the time and patience, stone about 2 dozen black, Kalamata olives - otherwise you can always use ones already pitted or even use some Kalamata olive paste/pate in its place. Add the peeled cloves of garlic, the anchovies and add the rosemary having removed the leaves from their stems. Whiz all this together in the food processor until a sooth paste. If you don’t have a food processor then you’ll have to labouriously chop all the ingredients by hand - this is where the paste option comes into its own!

The leg of lamb needs to be butterflied, by this I mean opened out off the bone so it rolls out like a carpet, you can get your butcher to do this for you. Once butterflied make any further length-way slices into the thicker pieces of meat in order to even it out - this will allow the meat to cook evenly. You may also want to separate the whole leg into more manageable pieces depending on the size of leg/barbeque that you have.

The best way to apply this marinade is to liberally spread it all over the lamb and then place the meat in a clean plastic bag (without holes!), add any remaining marinade and tie the bag shut making sure you expel as much air as possible. Once sealed massage the marinade into the meat through the bag. For best results marinade the lamb the night before so that it has a chance to fully permeate the meat.

Grilling the meat

Best done over a barbeque (unless you happen to have a chargrill in your kitchen!), but also possible to use a caste iron grill-pan - you’ll have to do smaller pieces though. Once the barbeque is really hot, without any flames place the lamb skin-side down, leave it be if at all possible - moving it only to prevent it from singeing - if the coals begin to flame you may want to raise your grill if at all possible, be careful not to char the meat. After about 10 minutes turn the lamb and season the cooked side generously with seat salt and black pepper. Grill this side for a further 10 minutes.

In an idea world I would have another grill mesh, higher from the coals and would move the leg to there to rest for a further 10 minutes or so, just to finish the meat. However if you don’t have this luxury simply cook for a little longer (2/3 minutes) and rest away from the heat for a further 5. If the first few slices are too rare for your liking you can always pop the lamb back on the heat to cook a little more

Once rested the lamb can be sliced length-ways (from hip to shin), a touch more salt and pepper and I like to finish off with a drizzle of quality Jerez sherry vinegar - this seems to really bring the flavours out.