This is less a recipe, more my favourite day ever: friends, a big fire, the great outdoors, some tasty unfussy food, wine and hopefully a bit of sunshine. The lamb is delicious but it’s the process that’s the best bit – it takes a while so buy lots of crisps and nibbles…The lamb is most flavoursome if marinated overnight, so get started the day before cooking for best results.

Hanging Leg of Lamb by a Tall Fire

SERVES 8

• 1 leg of lamb

• various vegetables, such as beetroot, celeriac, carrots and fennel, wrapped in foil

MARINADE

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• zest of 1 lemon

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and grated

• 2 sprigs of rosemary

• 2 sprigs of thyme

• salt and pepper

EQUIPMENT

• strong string

• hooks

• something to hang the lamb from a tree

• barbecue tripod if you have one or a self-made tripod made from three long sticks bound together at the top

• a large bag of birch logs

• kindling

• firelighters or newspaper

• meat thermometer

Cover the lamb in the marinade the day before you want to cook it to really get the flavour into it, rubbing it into all the nooks and crannies and leaving it in the fridge overnight. A good few hours before you want to cook the lamb, bring it out of the fridge to warm up.

Then you can build the fire. Make a big circle of stones that will contain the fire; you don’t want it to spread. Fill the circle with more stones as a base, which will heat up and radiate out heat, helping to cook the lamb. The idea is to build the fire up and hang the lamb slightly to one side of it so you can spin it and it can cook evenly rather than thrusting it right into the flames.

I bought a barbecue tripod for this purpose, but the first time we rigged our own up with three long lengths of wood arranged like a tepee and bound with string at the top. Tie up the lamb like a parcel with string so no bits of meat are hanging out to burn, then tie a piece of string around the top of the leg to attach a hook to.

Start your fire: you want it to burn high so the flames come up the side of the whole leg of lamb, so keep adding wood in a tepee style. Set up your tripod and suspend the lamb on a piece of strong string suspended from the top, so it hangs just a little way off the ground, and very near the fire, but slightly to one side. You can put a pot under it to catch the juices. I have added beans and tomatoes, too, in the past.

As the fire burns spin the lamb repeatedly in one direction like you are winding it up, then let it go to unwind on its own, so all sides are getting the benefit of the fire. Repeat this over and over. There’s probably a machine to do this, but it is quite therapeutic if you take it in turns.

How long it takes to cook will depend on your fire, the weather and the size of lamb, but usually around 1–2 hours. The outside should be crispy and the inside pink, reading 50°C right in the middle on a meat thermometer. You can also wrap up various vegetables in foil and place them in the edges of the fire, turning them occasionally. Beetroot and celeriac work particularly well as they turn out beautifully soft and smoky.

When the lamb is done, leave to rest for 20 minutes, then carve and serve with the fire-roasted vegetables, some garlicky yoghurt, salad and some smoky tomato beans.