On the heat. Mild

Ingredients

• 1 half leg of lamb, shank end
• 1.2 kg potatoes, sliced 5 mm
• 2 onions, sliced thin
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 3 sprigs rosemary · 6 sage leaves
• 100 ml olive oil
• 300 ml stock or water
• 60 g pecorino, grated
• Salt, black pepper

Method

1. Toss the potatoes and onions with half the oil, the garlic, half the herbs, salt, pepper and the pecorino. Spread in a deep tray and pour the stock over.
2. Stab the lamb and push in slivers of garlic and rosemary. Rub with the rest of the oil, salt heavily.
3. Lamb sitting directly on the potatoes, not on a rack. It bastes them for two hours.
4. 220 °C for 20 minutes, then 180 °C for 1 hour 10 for pink, or 1 hour 25 for well done.
5. If the potatoes on top are browning too fast, turn them over into the liquid once at the halfway mark.
6. Rest the lamb 20 minutes on a board while the potatoes go back in at 220 °C to crisp. Carve at the table.

Cook's note. Sliced, not chunked. Thin slices layered in stock give you a potato dish somewhere between a roast and a gratin, and they take up all the lamb fat.

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