By Greg B. In honor of a friend visiting from far out of town, we decided to have a get together at my place, with dinner, wines, cheese and beer.  Of all the main courses I could think of, nothing says friends kicking it up a notch like lamb.  Now I’ve made different lamb dishes before, but this time I wanted to try not braising it, but roasting it, through a combo using both my grill and my oven.

I tried to make this more of a Moroccan style dish, flavored with many spices, many of which are not used in traditional American or even European foods (notably not in Western Europe).  Having been to an awesome Moroccan restaurant in DC about a month ago, I know how great this food can be, so I decided to give it a shot!  The recipe includes a lot of spices I did not have in my cabinet, so be prepared to take a hit on purchasing spices for this.  However, it is nice from time to time to get some new and interesting flavors to cook with.  For this dish, you will need:

• 4lbs boneless leg of lamb (butterflied)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 small onion, finely diced
• 5 cloves garlic, finely diced
• **2 tbsp Ras el hanout**
• 1.5 cups dried apricots
• 1/2 cup water

Spices for Ras el hanout

So the ras el hanout is starred in the ingredients section because, well, most of us probably don’t have this combination of spices lying around.  You can buy it at middle eastern food markets, but I made it myself (sans saffron, I’m not made of money!).  Basically, combine 1 teaspoon cardamom, ginger, coriander, tumeric with 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and **saffron (if you can!) and 1/4 teaspoon of allspice, cloves and mace.  All of these should be ground, of course, because you’re going to make a ‘rub’, of sorts.

In my food processor, I chopped the garlic and onions, then added  1/2 cup olive and oil and water, along with the ras el hanout spice mix and processed to get it into a slurry.  In a marinating container, I unrolled my leg of lamb, and poured this mixture over top of it, being sure to make sure all the nooks and crannies of the lamb had the spice mix inside it.  Sealed, I placed this in the fridge to marinate overnight.

Once it came time to begin cooking the lamb, I let the lamb sit outside the fridge for a good hour, while I prepared other foods, it warmed to room temperature.  I removed most of the excess marinade by wiping it off with my hands.  Placing the roast on a flat surface, I took the dried and pitted apricots I had and began to place them inside the lamb (Sorry for the lab of pictures, my batteries died on me here!).  I placed a bunch of the apricots wedged into some of the nooks of the meat, and others I lined up, single vertical layer, in several rows across most of the lamb.  Then, very carefully, I rolled the lamb over, so that the outside, which was the fattier side and still showing some of the skin’s fascia, was out, and the apricots were firmly wrapped inside the lamb.  I then tied the roast up with twin, sliding it under one end and tying a tight knot (two-half hitch, I don’t know any specific culinary knots!), then tying it in the middle, then tightly tying the other end of the roast.

Ingredients for the marinade

With the roast firmly secured, you have two cooking options.  One is grilling, and the other is roasting in the oven.  Given that I did not have many coals leftover, after making the zacusca a few days prior, and that I had a stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon dish cooking in the oven for an appetizer, I chose to grill for a few minutes, then move to the oven.  This, it turns out, was a great idea.  The grill added a nice smokey flavor to the meat and just before I moved it into the oven at 325F, I put the meat directly over the coals and cooked the top of the roast quickly, giving it that delicious seared meat flavor.  Moved into the oven, I covered the lamb in aluminum foil and let it roast for 45 minutes, checking the temperature (approx 140F internal temp is nice for lamb), and given the temp, I let it cook for another 35 minutes at 325.  Then, let the roast rest for about 15 minutes and prepare to serve!

Now, this was a great dish and I wish I had some photos to show you.  When slicing the roast, you get this great cross section containing lamb and apricots.  I served it with a simple side of asparagus and over a bed of cous cous.  The spices were great, it’s a great change to go from the normal garlic, oregano, basil, rosemary cooked foods to middle eastern flowery, light and delicate aromatic spices.  Do I wish I had saffron for this dish?  You bet.  Was it great without it?  Absolutely.  The lamb remained moist and tender, and my only regret was that I didn’t prepare some form of a sauce to go more with the cous cous.  But, that will be for next time!