One of the finest treats in winter is to fill the house with the wonderful smell of slow-roasting lamb and then to share the lovely meat over a bottle or two of red wine with friends and family.

Yes, I can hear you protesting that lamb costs a fortune these days, but hey, we all can do with a little spoiling every now and then, and what better way of doing it than with a plate of good food and a bottle of good wine?

Lamb is a simple, unfussy meat to work with and the beauty of it is that you can leave it alone to slowly do its own thing while you go about other important business such as making a lovely fresh salad or a something sweet for afters.

To me, lamb is at its best when married to two flavours — rosemary and garlic — which is why both feature in this week's recipe. And it goes without saying that potatoes must have a strong presence, as well as a generous helping of fresh garden vegetables.

In the recipe below we marry all these ingredients and let them slowly cook to perfection so that the flavours blend and mingle.

To serve 4-6 people you need:

  • 1 leg of lamb

  • 6 potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced

  • 1 onion, thickly sliced

  • 4 carrots sliced into chunks

  • 6 leeks, sliced into chunks

  • 6 cloves of garlic, peeled

  • 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1 cup vegetable stock

  • 1 cup dry white wine

  • Salt and black pepper

    • Instructions:

    Rub the meat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, set aside.

    In an oven dish scatter the vegetables, four cloves of garlic, and two sprigs of rosemary.

    Pour the wine and stock over the vegetables.

    Place the lamb on a roasting rack positioned over the vegetables.

    Put two garlic cloves and two sprigs of rosemary on top of the lamb and then roast in an oven pre-heated to 160°C for 90-120 minutes, depending on how you like your meat.

    When the meat is done remove from the oven and set aside to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

    You can give the vegetables a quick nuke under the grill for a minute or three just to give it a little colour, otherwise serve as is.

    I always serve a few chunks of crusty bread with this to mop up the lovely sauces in the vegetable dish.

    Pour the wine and enjoy!

    Wine recommendation

    Michael Bampfield-Duggan of Wine Concepts suggests the Mooiplaas Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 (R86.50) to go with this recipe.

    This wine has an intense deep-red brick colour with spicy mineral aromas and flavours of ripe plums with firm ripe tannins on the lengthy finish.


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