FANCYPANTS MEALS
family lamb dinner
Dinner doesn’t get more traditional than a hunk of meat, a vegetable mash, and a side salad—but we’ve put some twists into these dishes to keep them tasty and Whole30-compliant. There’s no way your family members will leave the table hungry after this hearty meal, and even the most skeptical will be forced to admit that this “crazy diet” you’re on is actually full of familiar, nourishing, delicious foods.
Most of this meal can (and should) be done ahead of time, leaving you to navigate your leg of lamb gracefully while still having the time and mental capacity to engage with your guests. Here’s our proposed timeline:
Buy the leg of lamb no more than two days before your dinner and make sure you specify a bone-in leg. The extra flavor is worth the hassle of carving around the bone, and you’ll have material for the perfect bone broth when you’re done.
The night before your dinner (or the morning of), prepare the cauliflower mash and store in the fridge. This is the time to roast your beets, too. They can take up to an hour in the oven and peeling them can be a messy process, so you want this out of the way before your guests arrive. Plus, the salad is served cold, so you could actually do this step a full day before the dinner.
Finally, prepare the vinaigrette and store in the refrigerator.
Your lamb needs to soak for about 8 hours, so prepare the marinade either the night before or the morning of your dinner and place in the fridge to marinate first thing in the morning. (An hour of marinating time either way won’t matter much.) Ideally, someone will be around to baste the lamb around the halfway mark.
Begin roasting a 6-pound leg of lamb 2 hours before dinner time; back that time up by 30 minutes or so if you have a larger leg. While it’s cooking, you don’t really have much to do—just set a timer for the 30-minute mark to remind yourself to reduce the oven temperature, and then again after another 90 minutes to do your first meat-thermometer check.
Ten minutes before the lamb is done, transfer the mash to a saucepan and begin to reheat on medium low, stirring once in a while. At the same time, take the vinaigrette out of the refrigerator. (This will allow some of the olive oil’s cloudiness to dissipate.)
Once the lamb is out of the oven and resting, assemble the beet salad in a large serving bowl or individual side bowls.
When the lamb is fully rested, it’s time to carve! Carve the lamb by first cutting thin slices parallel to the bone, until you hit the bone. Transfer those slices to a serving platter, then rest the leg on the flat surface you just created, and start cutting thin slices from the thick end of the leg, perpendicular to the bone. Continue until you hit the bone itself. Transfer those slices to the platter, continue cutting thin slices across the meat and above the bone until you reach the end. This gives you “flaps” of meat on top of the bone, which you can then carefully slice off. Slicing “against the grain” in this manner gives you more tender, flavorful meat.
Take any meat left on the bone and either clean it off for sandwiches or save it to toss into a Frittata, or take the whole thing and make lamb bone broth following our beef broth recipe.
Serve the lamb slices with a side of the warm mash and the beet salad dressed with the vinaigrette.
bone-in leg of lamb
Serves 4 (with leftovers)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Marinate Time: 8 hours
Cook Time: 2 to 2 ½ hours
Total Time: 2 ¼ to 2 ¾ hours, plus marinating
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 bone-in leg of lamb (6 to 8 pounds)
Combine the olive oil, lemon zest and juice, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large nonreactive mixing bowl and whisk until blended. Pat the lamb dry with a paper towel, place in the bowl with the marinade, and turn to coat all of the meat. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate for 8 hours, turning the lamb and basting after 4 hours. (If you don’t have a turkey baster, just use a large spoon to pour the marinade over the lamb a few times.)
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the marinated lamb in a large roasting pan and roast uncovered for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F and continue roasting for 90 minutes to 2 hours, until the internal temperature is 135°F (for medium rare) or 140°F (for medium). Cooking times will vary depending on the size of your lamb and your oven, so begin checking the temperature with a meat thermometer at the 90-minute mark, and continue to check every 10 minutes thereafter.
Remove the lamb from the oven and allow it to rest for 10 minutes before carving as described in the menu introduction.
cauliflower-broccoli mash
Serves 4
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
- 1½ cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 2 bunches broccoli, cut into florets
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons clarified butter or ghee
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
Bring the broth to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the cauliflower, broccoli, garlic, and coconut milk. Cover and cook until the florets are fork tender, 12 to 15 minutes.
Transfer the half of the florets and liquid to a food processor. (The florets are so bulky you need to puree in batches, so just estimate half the contents—it will all come back together in the end.) Blend on low speed until smooth in consistency and transfer to a bowl. Puree the remaining florets and liquid.
Return all the mash to the food processor and add the clarified butter, salt, and pepper, and pulse until well mixed. Add the parsley and continue blending on low until completely smooth.
You can make the mash up to a day before your dinner and reheat in a saucepan on the stove just before serving.
roasted beets with grapefruit-thyme vinaigrette
Serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
- 4 medium beets
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup grapefruit juice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons mustard powder
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 package (about 5 ounces) arugula
- ¼ cup slivered or sliced almonds
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Rinse the beets thoroughly and carefully stab all sides with a fork. Place in a medium bowl and add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, tossing or mixing to thoroughly coat. Wrap each of the oiled beets separately in aluminum foil, pinching the tops closed. Place the beets in the center of a baking sheet and roast for 40 minutes. Check the beets by carefully opening the foil and sticking a thin knife into the center of a beet. If it goes in easily, the beets are done. If there’s resistance, close it back up and put the beets back into the oven for 5 minutes. Repeat until they’re done.
While the beets are roasting, prepare the vinaigrette. Whisk the grapefruit juice, garlic, and mustard powder together in a small mixing bowl. Add the remaining ¾ cup of olive oil in a steady stream while whisking to emulsify. Add the thyme and season with the salt and pepper.
Let the beets cool until you’re able to handle them. Remove the skin from each beet—you may want to wear gloves, as beet juice will stain skin. Dice the beets into 1-inch pieces and place in a glass storage container with a lid. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to chill before serving.
Place the arugula in a serving bowl, add the beets and slivered almonds, and dress with the vinaigrette.
