Smoked Lamb Dinner!

Smoked Lamb Dinner!

This was something of an experiment that came out surprisingly well.  This weekend was full of rain and not a lot of fun, so I went ahead and made a couple of good meals.  In this case, a boneless leg of lamb was smoked for several hours and served with my honey-butter beets (recipe is already HERE on the blog!) and some roasted fennel with Parmesan cheese and olive oil.  I also make a honey-dill mustard sauce for the lamb.  Vikingesque dinner.  Yum.

Historical Accuracy:  This all falls into the plausible range.  The lamb's seasonings, the smoking, and the beets are all directly from Viking sources, while the fennel is more modern, but plausible.  Give it a 6/10 because I'm feeling charitable.

How's it Taste?  It tastes like smoked ham, sweet and tangy beets, and anise-like fennel.  With hot mustard.  All in all, a well-balanced plate.

Difficulty:  If you have a smoker, it's a 3/10.  If not, it jumps up quite a bit.  Call it a 7/10.

Ingredients:

Smoked Lamb1 boneless leg of lamb
Ground Mustard
Dill Weed
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Salt
Pepper
Vinegar


Rub the lamb with the herbs and spices.  Take some more of them and mix it with the vinegar to make a "mop sauce."  Smoke the lamb at about 200-250 for 3-4 hours or until tender and cooked, mopping every 45 minutes with the sauce.

Roasted Fennel
2 fennel bulbs, stems removed, leaves reserved, sliced into 1/3" vertical sections
Olive oil
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper

Oil a baking dish, then line it with the fennel.  Season with salt and pepper, then top with Parmesan.  Drizzle some more olive oil on top, then roast at 375F for about 45 minutes or until fork-tender.  Top with chopped fennel leaves and then serve.

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