Valencia Leg of Lamb

Directions

1. An hour or two ahead of cooking, mix the dried onion, garlic, smoked paprika, thyme, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Place the lamb in the bowl and coat it fully with the spice mix. Cover the bowl and place in refrigerator.
3. 15 minutes before cooking, remove lamb from refrigerator and place on counter.
4. Pre-heat over to 35 degrees.
5. Cut the onions into 1/2 inch slices and separate the rounds.
6. Cover the bottom of a roasting pan with the onion rounds. You are, in essence, making a grate for the lamb to rest on.
7. Mix the orange juice and wine.
8. Fill the bottom of the pan with the orange juice to a level just below the tops of the onion rounds.
9. Place the lamb on the onion bed.
10. Put the lamb in the oven at 350 degrees.
11. Cook for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 325.
12. Cook for roughly an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes (1 hr to 1 hr 15 mins). The internal temperature of the lamb should register 130 degrees in thickest part (for medium rare).
13. Remove the lamb from the pan and set aside to rest. You can tent it with foil if you like.
14. Place the pan of juices, wine and onions back in the over. Increase heat to 375.
15. After ten minutes, remove the pan from the oven, pour the juices into a gravy strainer/separator.
16. Return the onions to the oven. They should get soft and nicely caramel colored. This should take about 5 to ten minutes.
17. While the onions are caramelizing, slice the lamb.
18. Remove the onions from the oven.
19. Plate and serve. I like to serve over couscous. I put a layer of couscous down, then a layer of onions, then slices of the lamb, then cover with the sauce.