Coscia di Agnello Schiacciata sotto i Mattoni
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 4 fat cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves
- 1 small, dried red chile pepper, or 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon dried chile flakes
- 2 tablespoons fennel seeds, crushed
- 1 5- to 6-pound leg of spring lamb, boned, well-trimmed of its excess fat, tied at several intervals with butchers twine
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fine sea salt
- Several large branches of rosemary
- In a small saucepan, warm the olive oil and scent it with the garlic, rosemary, chile, and fennel, leaving it on a gentle flame for a few minutes, taking care not to color the garlic.
- Place the prepared lamb in a large, noncorrosive baking dish and pour the warm oil over the lamb, rubbing it well into the flesh.
- Mix the wine with the vinegar and add it to the dish, rolling the lamb about in the liquids.
- Cover the lamb with plastic wrap and permit the lamb to rest in the marinade overnight at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Build a wood or charcoal fire.
- When the oven is hot, heat two pizza stones or half a dozen quarry tiles for 1/2 hour.
- Remove the lamb from the marinade, drying it with absorbent paper towels and salting it generously.
- When the embers of the fire are red/white-hot, place the lamb on a rack, place the rosemary branches over it, and immediately place one of the heated stones or half of the tiles over the lamb.
- Keep the remaining stone or tiles hot in the preheated oven.
- Grill the lamb for 15 to 18 minutes.
- Remove the stone or the tiles and the rosemary branches, turn the lamb, add fresh rosemary branches and the reserved hot stone or tiles, and grill an additional 15 to 18 minutes or until the flesh is rosy and still dripping with its juices.
- Remove the lamb to a board that will hold its juices and carve it at table, serving it with thick slices of roasted onions dressed in good oil, oven-toasted bread, and cold white wine.
olive oil, garlic, rosemary, pepper, fennel seeds, white wine, red wine vinegar, salt, branches
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/coscia-di-agnello-schiacciata-sotto-i-mattoni-391129 (may not work)