Roast Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary

Take the lamb out of the fridge an hour before it goes in the oven, so the middle is not fridge-cold when it meets the heat.

Pat the surface dry all over with kitchen paper.

Cut about twenty slits into the joint with the tip of a small knife, each one roughly 2cm deep and spread evenly over both sides.

Push a sliver of garlic and a piece of rosemary into each slit, burying both below the surface. Anything left standing proud burns black in the first twenty minutes and tastes of it for the rest of the meal.

Rub the lamb all over with the olive oil.

Season it on every side with the 8g of fine salt and the ground peppercorns.

Heat the oven to 220C/425F.

Spread the onion rounds and the halved carrots across the base of a roasting tin.

Lay the 2 whole rosemary sprigs among the vegetables.

Set the lamb on top of the vegetables, which hold it clear of the tin so the underside roasts instead of frying in the rendered fat.

Roast at 220C/425F for 20 minutes, until the fat has coloured and the tin is sizzling.

Turn the oven down to 180C/350F.

Roast for a further 45-55 minutes, basting once with the fat in the tin at the halfway point.

Start checking with a thermometer at the 45-minute mark, pushed into the thickest part of the leg with the tip kept off the bone.

Read it against the range: 54C/130F rare, 57C/135F medium rare, 63C/145F medium, 68C/155F medium well, 71C/160F well done.

Take it out 3-4C below the figure you want. The middle of a 2kg joint keeps climbing for several minutes after it leaves the oven, and a leg pulled at exactly 57C/135F is medium by the time it is carved.

Judge it by the thermometer rather than the clock. A leg is thick at the top and thin at the shank, so it varies along its own length, and fifteen minutes past done is the difference between pink and grey right through.

Lift the lamb onto a warm board.

Rest it for 20 minutes, loosely tented with foil. Carved straight from the oven it spills its juice onto the board and eats dry.

Tip most of the fat out of the roasting tin, leaving the vegetables and the browned juices behind.

Set the tin over medium heat and pour in the wine.

Scrape the base clean with a wooden spoon while the wine bubbles, until nothing is left stuck to the metal.

Simmer for 3-4 minutes, until the sharp smell of alcohol has gone.

Pour in the hot stock. A batch of the chicken stock in this collection makes this gravy six times over.

Simmer for 8-10 minutes, until the liquid has reduced by about a third and coats the back of a spoon in a thin film.

Strain it into a warm jug, pressing the onion and carrot against the sieve with a ladle to get the last of the juice out of them.

Carve in thick slices at an angle, working down towards the bone and turning the joint over to take the meat off the underside.

Pour any juice left on the board into the gravy.

Scatter the slices with flaky salt and serve with the gravy.