Roasted butterflied leg of lamb

Hubby loves lamb, and we have not eaten it for ages. Last week, when lamb was on sale in the grocery store, I really couldn't resist it, even if it's at $4.99 a pound. I bought back a leg of lamb, butterflied, boneless, about 3 pounds. So this week is my experiment on roasting a leg of lamb. The amount of seasonings used for one lamb leg is adapted from Joy of Cooking.

Recipe: roasted butterflied leg of lamb (about 2-3 lbs raw, cooked to 1 lb 4 oz)

Ingredients:
- 1 boneless butterflied leg of lamb
- 2 tp salt
- 1 TB black pepper
- 1/2 tp finely crumbed dried rosemary
- 1 TB vegetable oil

Procedure:
1. Mix salt, pepper and rosemary.
2. Wash leg of lamb. Pad dry or allow to drain of all water. Trim off all fat on the surface, may save a little fat in between the muscles.
3. Rub the seasonings on the surface of the lamb. Place in a pan. Cover with plastic wrap. Allow to marinate overnight in fridge.
4. About 1 hour before cooking, take pan out of fridge to warm up.
5. Heat 1 TB vegetable oil on high heat in a heavy non-stick skillet. Then lightly brown all sides of the leg of lamb on skillet. Do not allow herbs or anything to burn on the bottom of pan.
6. Transfer lamb leg to a baking pan. Bake at 350F, uncovered, middle rack, for about 40 minutes.

Results:

3:29pm, leg of lamb, marinated overnight and brought to room temperature before browning:

3:33pm, one side of lamb lightly browned:

3:35pm, other side of lamb lightly browned:

3:39pm, lamb ready to bake:

3:41pm, lamb started baking at 350F, middle rack:

4:22pm, lamb baked 40 minutes uncovered, without basking:

4:26pm, lamb allowed to cool, covered with foil:

4:26pm, total amount of pan juice left when done:

Results:
1. Oh my! I must have used too much seasonings. The lamb is very tasty no doubt, but perhaps too salty. I will cut down the seasonings by half next time.
2. I do not have to bask the lamb this time. It's cooked pretty well and thoroughly because it's already cut up. The meat is not tough at all.
3. The lamb meat becomes harder when it is cooled to room temperature. It means that I'd better serve it not too long after it's out of the oven.

Despite the hardness of the meat, my husband really likes the taste of it. It's very flavorful. My hubby was under the weather today. This leg of lamb, along with a loaf of eggplant cheese bread brought him a pleasant surprise at the dinner table.