Butterfly-Cut Leg of Lamb

marinade:
Leg of Lamb, butterfly cut
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup wheat-free tamari
3 sprigs of rosemary, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed and coarsely minced
2 shallots, diced
salt/pepper

Butterfly usually means that a thick piece of meat is sliced partway through it's lateral midsection. Generally this is done to make it cook faster and more thoroughly. In the case of the lamb leg, the meat is sliced to the bone and unwrapped. This essentially turns the lamb leg into a flat steak. The butcher that sold me the meat also butterfly cut it for me but, it's a reasonably simple operation.

First you'll want to take all the ingredients (besides the Lamb itself) and combine them in a mixing bowl. Then marinate the Lamb. I ended up transferring the whole operation to a food storage container and marinating it overnight. You don't have to marinate it this long, but it's nice.

Begin by preheating an oven to about 375F.

I decided to serve it with some brusselsprouts and carrots I had on hand. So I put the sprouts and carrots into a bowl and tossed them with some olive oil, salt/pepper and a little bit of butter and, put them in the oven.

Pull the Lamb out of the marinade and place the cut fatty-side (the outside) down in an unheated frying pan and place it on the stove over medium high heat. The cool thing about working with meats that have a thick fatty layer on them is that you can cook them in their own juices very easily. By placing the meat into the pan when it is still cold, you can slowly render out the fat as the pan comes up to temperature, rather than carbonizing the fat when it comes into flash contact with a hot pan. This trick also works really well with Duck breast and Bacon.

When it starts to sizzle, flip it over and fry it quickly on each side (the edges too if possible, tongs help for this, the less squeamish among us use our own washed hands). This process seals in the juices of the meat, so that all the flavor doesn't run out when it goes into the oven.

Now, move the lamb to the preheated oven
and roast for about 20 minutes, depending on how thick it is and your desired degree of doneness. If you're cooking your veggies in the same oven, you'll want to check on it earlier (I ended up overcooking mine a bit).

When it's done, take it out and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before carving, in order to let the meat reabsorb the juices. In my case this meant staring at it and 'testing' little pieces of it.