Leg of Lamb With Savory Beans

Before you insert the garlic into the slit, slide in some salt and pepper with a table knife. Add more after you insert the garlic. Most importantly, then trim a piece of fat from elsewhere and plug the hole with it. If I have time I like to mince the fresh garlic, mix it with salt pepper and stuff the hole with the mixture, and again plug the hole with a piece of fat.

I am confused Is the leg deboned or not? The recipe says take out the hip bone, but the picture looks boneless

My favourite way to get tender beans is to bring the pot to a boil on the stove top, and then move to a 250F oven for a four or so hours. Fresh beans, I've read, should not need overnight soaking. (Probably they don't need four hours in the over, either.) I think it was in one of Jacques Pepin's books where he says that if you soak overnight, and there's foaming, that's the beans fermenting, which you don't want.

In practice not much, in my experience. You want to cut the slits along the grain of the meat, not across, of course.

I add a topping of breadcrumbs and herbs. My Mediterranean Easter menu inludes white beans with pecorino (courtesy of an old Union Square Cafe recipe), spinach with pine nuts and raisins, and couscous. Bon appetit!

come on it's easter and pesach. the picture doesn't appear to conform to the recipie for a 8-9 lb leg of lamb. it looks like a tied and butterflied boneless leg available widely in 4-5 lb roasts. costco sells relatively small boneless legs of lamb in my necks of the woods not too expensively. (and why is a whole leg inappropriate for family particularly ones that have different doneness requests and don't mind leftovers.

Might you share your recipe for Spinach with pine nuts and raisins?

The dish was perfect for Easter dinner. I made a half recipe using a 4 pound boneless leg of lamb. Was the perfect amount for dinner. I saved the drippings to make gravy for leftovers. It was easy to make & cooked it in a coated cast iron pan until it was 150 degrees and it was medium, perfect. The herbs in the dish added a lot of flavor. I soaked the beans for 4-5 hours before cooking to remove gas. I strained them, added fresh water and cooked per the recipe. They were aromatic & flavorful

I do that too, but then plug the slit with small pieces of bacon.

The short answer to your question is no; puncturing the meat will not lead to meat juices escaping. See J. Kenji López-Alt's article over at Serious Eats for an explanation: https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/05/ask-the-food-lab-is-it-ok-to-probe-my-meat.html.

Have the butcher butterfly it or google how to do it and then you can put all the herbs, garlic, etc inside before you tie it. If you can't flip a steak with a fork why should you stab a roast like a stabbing victim? The best advice is to use a meat thermometer and trust it.

I would soak cannelli beans overnight before cooking them. If I forgot to soak them, I'd pressure cook them.

The Rabbinical Assembly (governing body for the Conservative movement of Judaism) declared in November 2015 that kitniyot (legumes, such as peanuts, beans & peas, rice, and corn) are kosher for Passover. So, if you identify as Conservative or Reform, you're in the clear!

I've always wondered about any suggestion to cut slits in lamb/beef/pork to insert garlic. Will that not lead to meat juices escaping. I mean, we're talking about cutting into the flesh here. Any thoughts??? Thank you!

I have made Passover Seders for years and each year I get confused. I want to move away from Brisket and serve a more Mediterranean-type menu rather than the typical Eastern European one. Given the above, can I use beans in a Passover meal? I could argue that my family might be Sepharic as I have been told that we come from Southern and Eastern Georgia as in near Turkey.