Butterflied Leg of Lamb With Lemon Salsa Verde Recipe (2024)

I've made "real" preserved lemon in the past, but I now prefer a quick version. I've seen several recipes for quick ones; this is the one I've used. http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/quick-preserved-lemons I don't think I'll ever go back to the "slow" version, as this works just fine.

For a 3.5 lb rolled roast, 400 degrees for 20 minutes, 350 for 40 minutes. Done to medium rare. If you want rare, remove from oven at 110-115 internal temp.Agree with several others that the salsa was far too salty; cut way back on the preserved lemon, or just use zest instead. Otherwise, a fine recipe

This recipe was beautiful. Next time I would not add the preserved lemon to the salsa. In my opinion, the preserved lemon makes it kind of chemically tasting — like what Spic and Span might taste like if you were into eating cleaning products. Having said that, I will definitely make this again, I’ll just choose fresh lemon over the preserved for the salsa.

warning--450 f is much too high- lamb will overcook in allotted time

this recipe was AMAZING. aside from all the herb chopping, it was easy as pie, and holy smokes is that salsa verde good. The whole thing was gone by the end of the meal, will 100% make again!

A full 5 stars for this! Easy and delicious. I made this for Easter dinner. The fresh herb salsa is vibrant, colorful, and a perfect complement to the lamb. I served it with roasted beets and their sautéed greens, and rice pilaf with carrots and parsley (recipe also on this site). The colorful presentation of these foods was a Spring cornucopia!

in step 2, i used an immersion blender to make a paste. so good.

A marinade will soften the meat at first, but ultimately will toughen it. Eight hours is sufficient to infuse the tastes. This is especially true if there is vinegar/yogurt in the marinade -

This is delicious. My sister doesn’t like cilantro, so I left it out. I’m not crazy about preserved lemon so I used extra zest, juice and salt. Parsley, mint, lemon, scallions in the food processor. Fast and easy. Then I realized I completely forgot the olive oil. Poured a little oil over the salsa once it was in the serving bowl. It’s a keeper.

We just finished our Easter dinner and this lamb dish was a huge hit. Used the rub, but tied the lamb back up into a roast, as it was only 1/2 of a boneless leg roast from a few weeks ago, and we all like it med. rare. I was worried that I’d overcook it if I roasted it flat. Salsa was delicious. Many thanks to the person in these comments who posted the quick preserved lemon recipe -that’s also a keeper!

is the fat cap trimmed to a specific depth and scored? is. marinade applied to fat cap side?

I made a different NYT recipe ("Rosemary Rack of Lamb With Crushed Potatoes") but made the Salsa Verde from this one to go with - absolutely delicious!

This is so good--and definitely worthy of a celebratory meal! I made a half recipe exactly as written. My guests raved about about it. The good news is that I had leftover lamb in the freezer, so I made another round of it for just my husband and me. I'm making it again next week for my out-of-town family who will be visiting. Thank you, Melissa!

Lauren Hamilton, see my post below from about a year ago — I mention the sides that I made for this. This year, I’m making this lamb recipe again but the sides will be asparagus and an Israeli couscous salad from Cooks Illustrated.

Made this tonight for Easter dinner. Loved how easy it is to make a stunning, flavorful leg of lamb in not very much time. I will definitely use this method again. I think next time, I would definitely dial up some Moroccan flavor with more cumin and other spices and dial down the lemon. Also, we had American lamb which tends to be blander and was somewhat overwhelmed by all the piquancy. Next time, we’ll seek out Australian or New Zealand lamb which tends to be more flavorful.

350 degrees for 40 minutes. Perfect

Best Lamb Ever.If you don’t have preserved lemons for the salsa verde add a little honey to it. It’s amazingly good Lamb,

Cook at 375

Although I couldn't locate these at the grocery store, the dish still turned out to be exceptionally delicious.

Roasted at 450 for 25 mins, then turned down to 375 for another 30 minutes for a 5-6 pound boneless lamb

Solid recipe. Had a 2.5 lb boneless half-leg marinated overnight (subbed hot smoked paprika for chile). Gas-grilled it flat; seared for 5 minutes, flipped and moved off the heat to finish to an internal temp of 130° and a perfect medium rare. Served sliced over a bed of rice. The verde was terrific, would easily pair with other proteins. Didn't have (nor care to make) preserved lemons, so I went with lemon juice and zest. Still terrific.

This recipe is a keeper. A great recipe for guests as it is easy to prepare in advance, easy to serve attractively and the portions can easily be adjusted - if you have more people add more sides. It is also interesting without being too weird for the picky eaters. Rinsing the preserved lemon reduced the saltiness and the salsa was really good.

I rarely roast meat and was terrified of all the things I thought could go wrong. But nothing did. This is a terrific recipe! The timing was perfect and my guests were ecstatic.

Another fantastic Melissa Clark recipe. Made it exactly as directed. Pulled at 120 degrees. Got another 19 degrees of residual cook and the lamb was spectacular!!

So flavorful and tender! Cooked it at 375° based on others' comments, and I thought 140° was the internal temp for lamb- thank you (SIC) meat thermometer! Next time, I'll take it out at 120°. There were pink internal parts, but mostly, it was medium. I second that I'll make double the salsa verde, it really was that good!

Excellent recipe. I marinaded am of cook with added rosemary. Grilled (lump charcoal, not gas) 5 mins per side over direct/high heat, the rest indirect (~40 mins) until temp hit 120. 10 minutes rest. Delicious crust and perfect medium rare inside. This salsa is a great complement to the grilled meat. Couscous with vegetables roasted last night and put together tonight. Salad. Luscious red wine. Easy easy easy.

We cooked on the grill. Double the marinade and double the salsa (& pulse salsa in Cusinart) for 4-6 #, in fact I would make even more salsa for leftovers. Essential to have fresh herbs! What a difference

If one lives in a small town without a butcher, butterflied leg of lamb is sold with the fat cap on it. Without an assistant to trim the lamb, the cook will spend an arduous amount of prep time trying to remove the fat.

I’m going to make tomorrow. I will reduce the preserved lemon quantity. Also, I typically use the peel only and throw away the fruit. And I rinse it really well to remove saltiness.

Really great recipe. Pay particular attention to the meat’s temperature. I overcooked mine but because the butterflying was uneven, I still had gorgeous medium rare spots. The “dry rub” marinade was spectacular!