help! urgent meat roasting question (duh...)

[Monkeybird]

Some of you will know my family sing 'she likes to burn it, burn it - (see my blog) but I have guests coming at 1 and need help:

two leg joints of lamb, each about a kilo...

says 25 mins per 500g plus 25... How long to roast them both together? not double surely?

And I have chucked over lots of marinade... was this a bad idea (will it just burn...?

Probably will be a disaster knowing me.

Any urgent chefy help gratefully received...

I would take them out of the marinade before you roast them, and time it as for 2 kilos of meat. So about 2.5 hours. But check after 2 hours. do you have a meat thermometre?

no don't have a meat thermometer... can I just poke?

So, take out of marinade.. another daft question: should I then wipe the excess

god DH is gonna read this over my shoulder (he cooks in our house) and laugh his ass off...

No not double!!!

When you are roasting meat, you need to do it for a while to get to the middle of the meat.

As you have two pieces, both about a kilo each, you only need to do it for the time necessary for the biggest piece.

And lamb can be quite rare with no ill effects - although I get the impression you would rather it was quite well done.

Seriously, you only double the cooking time when you are microwaving. If you do it for double, you will have two pieces of charcoal in the bottom of the oven.

re: marinade.

If you are covering with foil, you can leave the marinade on (I would) but if you are just putting in a tray with no lid or foil, I would scrape it off, otherwise you will just have a burnt crust.

as long as they are not wedged up next to each other they are two separate things - you don't need to add their weight together - so one single lot of cooking time.

If you have a fan oven (or they can fit on the same shelf) it is simple, if not a fan then change round sometimes so that they get even cooking temperatures.

squonk, are you casting aspersions on my middle class tendencies?

I like rare lamb, I'm just farkin useless in the kitchen!

OK, so about 2 hours and then check?

Can I do the skewer test? or does it spring less when pressed or summat?

No.

1hr, 30 mins total cooking time.

(I just assumed from your burn, burn, burn mantra that this was a lifestyle choice for you, rather than kitchen ineptitude )

God I love wireless.

Here's what I'm gonna do thanks to you kind experts. cover tin in a loose double tent of tinfoil and roast for 1 hour 30 from about 12 to eat just after 1.30

Will leave marinade on but check and baste frequently.

I am roasting my butternut squash and have toasted pinenuts ready for my risotto as we speak so trying to be prepared...

Now, i'm thinking a litte sauce on the side knocked up from meat juices, red wine, mint and redcurrant jelly... Do you think?

Wish me luck, I'm going in. i'll be holding you lot responsible if it all goes the way of the BLW carrot/cherry coke/pan fiasco (read the blog). Especially you, Squonk

just one teeny thing... I would suggest either mint or redcurrant. Not sure they will go together.

Other than that, sounds fab. What time do you want me?

how was it?

Squonk! It was deeeeeeeelicious, so you can bask in some reflected glory. One and a half hours was perfect (if a little long, even) risotto was yummy and the redcurrant sauce did the trick.

Thanks for holding my hand: MN to the rescue again.