This little roast is a go-to meal when I’m craving lamb. It’s enough for two ordinary appetite people or one hungry person and it cooks in 20 minutes.
I start off with slicing garlic and cutting some rosemary sprigs from out back and then getting out some olive oil, salt, pepper, dried thyme and dried rosemary.
Drizzle olive oil on the lamb and rub it all over both sides. Peel and slice a clove of garlic and then with a sharp paring knife, poke holes in the lamb. Slide a slice of garlic into each hole and follow that with the end a sprig of rosemary. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme and dried rosemary and you’re done all the work.
While the lamb comes to room temperature, preheat the oven to 200C/400F and when the oven is ready, this little pillow of lamb goodness will be ready for the oven. Roast for 20 minutes if you like your lamb medium rare and 25 minutes if you like it more well done. Always test the internal temperature of your lamb with a thermometer.
- Rare = 48-54C/120-130F
- Medium Rare = 54-60C/130-140F
- Medium = 60-66C/140-150F
- Well Done = 66-74C/150-165F
I think I need to choose a better knife to cut the meat with. Sorry about that. I was really hungry.
With the grilled potatoes, wilted spinach with mashed roasted pumpkin on top – this was a mighty nice meal. When I lived in the states, I rarely ate lamb but here in Australia it’s on the menu often. Do you like lamb?
- 1 lamb sirloin roast
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- salt and pepper
- Rub olive oil over both sides of the lamb
- Slice garlic into thin pieces and then with a sharp paring knife, poke holes in the lamb, then slide one garlic slice in each hole nad follow that with an end piece of fresh rosemary.
- Grind salt and pepper over the roast, then sprinkle the rosemary and thyme.
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F
- Leave lamb to come to room temperature while oven is heating.
- Place lamb into the oven and cook for 20 minutes - check internal temperature with a thermometer.
- Serve with vegetables or salad and a little mint sauce.
Great pre-Easter post.
I love lamb and this looks SO perfect and delicious.
Gorgeous meal! I love how quickly it can be prepared.
Thanks for this wonderful post,
Dawn
Love lamb! In fact we’re having people over for dinner this weekend, and I’m thinking about roasting some. It’s become more difficult to find in the US, alas. I can usually find lamb chops and often leg of lamb. Sirloin roasts are becoming much less common than they used to be, and finding shoulder of lamb is really difficult these days (unless I order ahead of time from the butcher). Anyway, lovely dish — thanks.
Oh My!!!!!! I love lamb…..and this recipe is just perfect. PERFECT I tell you. I am salivating as I type. I can even smell the aroma of the lamb roasting.
Scrumptious!!!! Perfect for the season… I just wish I lived a little closer..
😉
I hope you are feeling much much MUCH better these days…
Hi Maureen. Lamb is always on my Easter menu, usually leg of lamb as that is what is available here. I do as you do, cut slits and insert garlic and rosemary and serve it with our homemade mint sauce. Your simple sides are wonderful.. Perfect meal.
Lamb is our Easter dish of choice and I keep it real simple; we do a roast much like this and I serve it atop a salad of greens with a honey/mustard/rosemary vinaigrette. I’m craving it now and it’s all your fault!
Love this… you make your lamb sirloin similar to how I make mine x
Like you, I rarely had lamb in North America. I think once in my whole life. Here we raise and butcher our own and I’ve become a big fan. This looks fantastic! 🙂
There’s nothing so delicious as roasted lamb – your recipe sounds mouthwatering!
Gosh we used to eat lamb at least once a week when we lived in Australia – now we’re lucky if we eat it twice a year. I don’t think Rich would be sharing a roast like this with me though – he’d plunder the whole plate!
Looks great! Make mine pink please. 🙂
Lamb is fairly expensive here, which is odd because we raise lamb in Ontario. I’ve only recently began to enjoy it, when I was young, I always felt it was too gamy but it may have been what they were feeding the lamb. Your recipe looks amazing, I love the colour, perfectly cooked.
I used to make a gorgeous pork roast with the sliced garlic inserted the way you did here, it was a Martha Stewart recipe (her mother’s, in fact), she also rubbed marjoram all over the roast, thank you for the reminder, it was exceptionally good.
It turns out, after I too wasted years not liking lamb, there was a perfectly simple reason why I (and likely you) didn’t care for it as kids. Lamb, when butchered improperly, has a membrane where the majority of that “gamey” sort of flavor comes from. Hence, roughly twice a year, when my mom (an unenthusiastic cook on a good day) bought an inexpensive leg of lamb and cooked it grey-it was disgusting! But it’s dependably marvelous, handled and cooked gently. (As I’m sure you’ve already discerned ?)
LOVE lamb! Having it tonight actually … just like yours with a bit more garlic. 🙂 It will marinate in the oil, fresh rosemary and garlic all day and land on the grill to finish. A fine meal, indeed.
I haven’t prepared a roast since I was living with my parents. Since I don’t eat meat and I live alone, there’s no reason to make one. I look forward to the day where I can fill the house with intoxicating aromas that roasts always emit. This Lamb Sirloin looks divine.
This recipe is perfect for our dinner this weekend. My family likes to eat lamb. Its been year since we tasted lamb recipe. I must give this a try, though I am not a good cook.
Cooking is easy. Trust yourself. Read a recipe through, get all the ingredients together and then get started. easy
Yeah- this looks very very good. HELLO Maureen… long time no see. I’m back on my regularly scheduled program and catching up around the blogosphere. Cheers! x wendy (formerly Chez Chloe)
I saw the name and I instantly recognized the photo. So great to connect again.
How wonderful that you simply step into your backyard to gather rosemary:) I love your use of spices, Maureen. The wilted spinach and roasted pumpkin sound sublime, too. John is a very lucky man 🙂
I love lamb Maureen and my husband usually grills it . My brother raise his own lamb and I am going to see him for Easter and I we usually have leg of lamb. Your lamb roast looks fantastic and I love the spinach and roasted pumpkin purée.
I do like lamb but never make it at home. We ate more lamb while traveling in Ireland and Iceland. This sounds so simple and looks wonderful! I would be hungry too waiting on this lovely roast. Thanks for the inspiration – this would be great for a change. Glad you are doing well!
This is pretty much the way I prepare a leg of lamb! I know we’d love this smaller roast just as much!!!
Rosemary and garlic are such classic seasonings for lamb — what a beautiful dish!
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Maureen, this makes the perfect main dish for Easter. So yummy!!!
I love having lamb since it has great flavor and I love the way you made it, beside looking juicy and tempting, you used spices that do not overtake the flavor of the lamb 🙂
Hi Maureen
How goes it? This looks nice but sadly I don’t eat lamb I must be an unnatural Aussie:). And somehow I just keep thinking of those little lambs gambolling around the paddocks…..
I don’t eat rabbit for the same reason. Thumper?? no way.
You’ve convinced me to pick up a lamb roast! For some reason I don’t ever make lamb and I love it, if it’s prepared well. This looks really “well”!
ps I made your grilled potatoes last week – so… good!
I do not like lamb, but I think this recipe would be just as good for a pork loin or roast beef.
I love lamb but have to say I haven’t made it in ages because the rest of my family isn’t a fan of it – imagine that! I’d love to try this though so I’m going to save it for when I’m cooking for a group of friends. It looks delicious!
Absolutely love lamb, but it must be perfectly cooked and yours is just how I like it! Your recipe yields a really perfect result.
Our family loves lamb. Your dinner looks so delicious. Love rosemary with lamb like a match made in heaven. You know it is much harder to find lamb in the US but when we do we are so trying your recipe.
Oh I am amazed by your meat preparation skills Maureen. I still haven’t learned how to cook lamb. In fact the last time I ate lamb was a t a wedding in france a few years back, it’s just not that common here around. Anyway, I got a little food thermometer from france and I was hoping to use it in recipes such as your gorgeous looking lamb.
I wish I had your flavorful lamb for dinner!
I rarely eat lamb in the US either, but this does look like a really great meal.
As you’ve read, this is a cut of lamb that is not often found here in the US. If it was, I would be cooking lamb more often as this is so quick to prepare and looks great.
Wow it looks delicious. I’m gonna try this and I think I would love to cook this for our dinner tonight.
Now that I’m mostly cooking for two (such an adjustment after years of cooking for teenagers and all their extras), I miss roasts because they’re usually too big for just two people. This mini lamb roast is a great option. I was craving lamb yesterday and bought 750gms of cubed lamb and made a rogan josh curry – very good fare now that the nights are so much cooler xx
Hi! I have definitely made leg of lamb before, but until yesterday, have NEVER even Seen a “lamb leg sirloin portion” cut before! I saw it at Publix here in South Florida & BEGGED my Fiancé to buy it ! He did & although I’m a bit intimidated, I am going to try your recipe NOW! IT WOULD be Great if I knew what weight YOU USE! Mine is 3.34 pounds. It would be even BETTER if you can respond BEFORE I start cooking! Like I said, I’m a bit Intimidated! Also, do YOU cut off any of the fat layer? I USUALLY do Not, as it adds to Flavor! Also, the 400 degree temp is a little scary too! But after seeing your pictures, I think it’ll be great! I DO plan to use MORE GARLIC as we LOVE IT! THANK YOU for the recipe! And IF you’re able to reply, as this lamb is coming to room temp, THANK YOU EVEN MORE! God Bless! J
This is a TOTAL keeper! It can also be varied with a dry rub–after olive-oiling the meat–of the North African spice blend called Raz al-Hanout, mixed with S &P, a little cayenne for heat.
This pairs well with couscous and grilled zucchini (aka “courgettes” in UK, etc.!)
Great recipe! Came out great! Super easy and very tastey!??
I tried to put 2 thumbs up by the emoji came out as question marks instead 🙁
…super tastey! TWO THUMBS UP!
20 minutes? What size roast did you have? Mine is 3 1/2 lbs and I’m pretty sure 20 minutes would leave it juuuuussst a bit rare for my liking. I’m still going to make this recipe though. 😉
OMG no, our roasts are about double handful size, maybe a pound. Try the recipe poking the garlic in, rubbing the roast with olive oil and dusting it with salt, pepper, chopped fresh rosemary and a little dry thyme. (even dry rosemary works for me if it’s raining hard outside. LOL)
Do not trust this recipe. Followed it to a T, and lamb was extremely over done with 20 minutes at 200 C (at which point it should have been rare according to this recipe) . Ruined my Easter, so disappointed I trusted this. I Literally cried because I put so much prep into a great meal and the main course tastes like sand now because I put trust in this recipe. Dry as a bone, horrible to the point it’s barely edible. Really really bad suggestions with the cooking times here. The piece I had was very similar to what is described here.
Perhaps my roast was bigger than yours. I’m sorry.
The cooking time for this recipe is total BS…
It took 1h30 to get the roast to medium rare.
I’m in Australia and perhaps our lamb is much smaller than yours. I’m sorry.