Grilled Leg of Alberta Lamb

The highlight of a trip to the Crossroads Market last week was a fun conversation with Sandra Manning. Sandy is wife of a certain former politician. Warm, engaging and very enthusiastic about promoting their family farming operation in the Cypress Hills, Top of The Mountain Meats, it is easy to see how well she was suited to being the better half of a public figure. She is truly delightful.

Retired from politics, the couple now help out with their son’s grass fed (and finished) cattle operation on two parcels of virgin prairie land in Alberta. Their philosophy and dedication to soil preservation and to raising organic grass feed beef makes my heart sing.

While Sandra was deep in a conversation about the location of their southern property with my brother and sister-in-law, who hunt on adjacent land every fall, my eyes wandered to a new section of their freezer that contained lamb. “Steve loves lamb. Mmmm, lamb. What’s for dinner?” This is where my mind goes.

Drawing the conversation back to what was important to me, I inquired about this new product. Sandy explained that they were selling the lamb at their stall for a neighbouring farm, Maple Cross Ranch, who ranch in a similar manner while raising a bunch of little ‘uns, leaving them less time for the marketing side of the biz.

(Note: if you go to their website, do not, I repeat, do not click on the About our Lamb page. The cute little baby there is enough to just about break the lamb eating deal for me!)

We used to purchase our lamb from a friend who no longer raises sheep and so we have been buying lamb that is imported from New Zealand. This lamb, I am told, is right on the edge of being old enough to be mutton. I believe it, as every now and then we have had a cut that smelled of mutton. It’s no wonder Steve’s dad wouldn’t eat lamb – he was eating mutton during WWII and it’s distinctive wooly smell is very different than lamb.

Anyway, after hearing about Maple Cross and how much better it was than NZ lamb, I was in for a bone in leg raised right here in Alberta.

Steve has his own ‘special’ marinade that we use on butterflied leg of lamb so this leg was going to be butterflied and then it was in for a bath.

The bone was carefully taken out and then the thickest part of the meat was sliced most of the way through and opened up like a book. This leaves you with a more or less even thickness for the entire piece. The colour difference from outside to inside is because I did this while the meat was just slightly still frozen.

Steve’s magical marinade was mixed up and the two got to know each other in a ziplock bag for a few hours.

Then the meat was put onto the grill. Of course, the wind came up shortly after we got started, making it hard to keep a consistent temperature and killing our timing for dinner. Good thing it wasn’t critical.

I was eager to have fresh, home(land) grown, lamb again and see if I could taste the difference. I definitely could.

Done to a perfect medium-rare, the roast was super tender and had a delicate flavour that was indeed much different than the NZ product. If you enjoy lamb but find it just a bit gamey or wooly, local and pastured is the way to go as the flavour is much more subtle. Steve said it was definitely ‘not ba-a-a-ad’ (insert corny Dad sheep sound here). I’d say it was much better than that, it was delicious!

If you are interested in Maple Cross lamb they sell direct to the Medicine Hat area or can be found at Top of the Mountain Meats at the Crossroads market. Say “hi!’ to Sandy and ask her about their naturally raised, grass fed products. They’re pretty top notch!

Steve's Lamb Marinade

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Author: www.miasdailydish.com

A savoury marinade for any cut of lamb that will be done on the grill.

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Ingredients

• 1/2 C red wine vinegar
• 1/4 C olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp dried mint
• 1 Tbsp crushed rosemary not powdered, just crushed
• 1 heaping Tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• Butterflied leg of lamb or other cut for grilling.

Instructions

1. Mix all marinade ingredients in a medium sized glass bowl.
2. Place lamb and marinade into the bowl or a plastic ziplock bag.
3. Allow to marinate for 4 hours or overnight.
4. Remove lamb from marinade and grill until medium rare.

Recipe Notes

Being a man, Steve doesn't measure very well and likely uses larger quantities than his written recipe states so you can be pretty liberal with your quantities here!