Miso Honey Roast Lamb

I’m back after a mini break. My brain’s been going at 100 mph pretty much non stop since I started this blog, and finally I had to pull over for a quick breather. The turn signal is back on, and I’m ready to pull out into traffic again.

The best part about all of this, is how I have this great platform to talk about and share all the new combinations of ingredients and flavours that I love to try and experiment with. And hopefully along the way, I inspire someone or two, to try it for themselves!

The next best thing is how I can get Mr K to try new things! A couple of weeks ago I got him to try Miso soup for the first time! It was packed with Nori and poached eggs and he couldn’t get enough of it. My dad has always loved miso and as a result we used to have it at home a LOT. I mean too much. I mean so much, that I got sick of it. Having stayed away from it for a few years, I’m loving miso all over again now! 🙂

For those of you who are not familiar with it, Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning that’s made out of soybeans, sea salt and a fungus known as koji and often mixed with a type of grain like rice or barley and is allowed to ferment for a period of time so that you end up with an enzyme-rich food that’s available (typically in your local Asian grocery store) as a thick paste. And there are two kinds of miso pastes – white miso and red miso.

Recently there were some beautiful boneless legs of lamb that were on sale in my local grocery store following Easter. I like a good bargain as much as the next person, but being a Kiwi, I like lamb even more than the next person. Usually I roast lamb with the usual salt, pepper, tomato sauce and herbs, but this time I wanted something different and tried a marinade with white miso paste. The result was a Spicy Miso Honey Roast Lamb. It was Uh-MAZING!!!

Miso does have a strong fermented, salty flavour to it and it’s a little creamy too. I like eating miso paste on its own and in fact I used to have the paste as a dip for veggies quite often, back when I was a student. The saltiness of miso however can be a little harsh, which is why I used the honey to soften it. I also used white miso instead of red, as the white is a little lighter in flavour and isn’t overpowering. I really wanted a good balance of flavours.

I made a sauce/gravy to go with the lamb using extra miso, honey, cayenne pepper and the remaining lamb jus. It was unbelievably delicious. Better than I even imagined! So much so that in the end I was dipping roasted potatoes in it! I actually made a miso and honey sauce separately and it tasted great, but it was the lamb jus that really made that marinade come to life. I would recommend using a good quality beef stock or chicken stock in its place if you want more sauce.

It’s been a while since I’ve had lamb and in the excitement I forgot to take pictures until AFTER the lamb came out of the oven. I promise I wanted to take the “before” shots but all I’ve got today are the “after” ones. My apologies.

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5 from 1 vote

Miso Honey Roast Lamb

Total Time 10 hours 30 minutes

Prep: 8 hours

Cook: 2 hours 30 minutes

Print Rate

Ingredients:

• ▢ 3 lb boneless leg of lamb preferably already trussed
• ▢ Cotton thread to truss the lamb in case it's required

Marinade

• ▢ ¼ cup white miso paste
• ▢ ¼ cup honey
• ▢ 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• ▢ 2 tbsp chili flakes optional

Gravy/Sauce

• ▢ ¼ cup white miso paste
• ▢ ¼ cup honey
• ▢ 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• ▢ Leftover lamb jus from the roast
• ▢ ⅓ cup of water
• ▢ OR ½ cup of beef stock
• ▢ Chopped green onions scallions

Instructions:

• If not already trussed, roll up the boneless leg of lamb to get a "log" of roughly equal diameter. Truss this with cotton string along the length of the piece of lamb.
• Mix ingredients for the marinade and rub the marinade generously all over the piece of lamb.
• Keep this on a dish/plate and marinate in the fridge overnight.
• Take out the piece of lamb about 45 minutes before roasting to allow it to come to room temperature. Preheat oven to 425°F/ 215°C.
• Place the lamb roast on a roasting rack (optional) and place this on a roasting pan. This is to allow the lamb jus to collect on the roasting pan. You can roast the lamb without the rack directly in the roasting pan as well.
• Place the lamb in the preheated oven for 10 min, until the surface of the lamb starts to caramelize. Flip it over and roast for another 10 minutes.
• Lower the heat to 275°F / 135°C, and roast the lamb for 2 hours. If the lamb is darkening too much, cover it with a piece of foil. If you have a meat thermometer, roast until the internal temperature reaches 145°F/ 63°C (this takes two hours in my oven).
• Remove from the oven and cover with a piece of foil and the roast will continue to cook for a couple more minutes. Rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.
• Serve with gravy and chopped green onions.

Gravy/Sauce

• In a small saucepan, combine the honey, cayenne pepper and miso and mix until you get a smooth paste.
• Pour the water onto the roast pan (just the pan, without the lamb in it!) to dissolve and mix all the lamb jus and caramelized bits. Pour this into the small saucepan with the miso mix and heat gently until it starts to simmer. Taste and add salt only if needed.
• If you would like more gravy/sauce add up to another ¼ cup of stock.

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The lamb roast was cooked perfectly! It was still pink inside (I prefer lamb roast cooked to a medium), and perfectly juicy. The lamb was seasoned well with the miso, honey and cayenne pepper marinade. The honey had caramelized giving the meat that extra caramelly flavour and the miso actually gives the lamb a hint of creaminess that was both delightful and unexpected! The caramelly sweetness, the saltiness, the creaminess, the hint of spice… and that hard-to-put-your-finger-on umami taste… this lamb roast was wickedly delicious!

Have you tried miso marinaded meat before? I’ve tried miso glazed fish before which was great too! I was slightly worried that the lamb (which has a robust flavour of its own) not quite being in balance with the miso flavour, but it did! This is something you should definitely try with your next roast! Would work well with a beef roast too!

If you’re like me and usually have leftovers from a Roast… why not make these delicious Miso and Mango Lamb Sliders with these {Almost} No knead Slider buns!

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