Wilhelm Coetzee's Butterflied Leg of Lamb

William Coetzee is the winemaker at Flagstone winery in South Africa and is reputed to be as fanatical about his braiis (barbeques) as he is about his wine.

"In South Africa a lot of our lamb meat comes from the "Karoo" (an
arid but beautiful part of our country and a place where the farmers
are very passionate about their meat). The shrubs that these lamb feed on
(free range) is very herbaceous and spicy, so when you buy the meat it's
already tender with a natural herby/spicy character. For the recipe you
need a small leg of lamb (1.3kg), deboned and butterflied.

The Marinade:
500ml Bulgarian yogurt
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 tbsp of grounded coriander seeds
1 tsp of grounded cumin
1 small onion finely chopped

Mix all the ingredients together, keep half of it aside (store in a
airtight vessel) to serve with the barbequed lamb, cover the lamb with
the rest, put in a plastic bag remove the air and leave in the fridge
for two days.

Before you barbeque, remove the lamb from the bag and wipe off excess marinade with
paper towel.

Basting sauce for the barbeque:
250g good quality unsalted butter
100ml Verjuice
1 clove garlic finely chopped

Put the ingredients in a saucepan and melt the butter over a low heat

Barbeque over medium hot coals but not too close to the
heat. Turn after 10 minutes, baste, and season well with Maldon salt
and black pepper. After another 10 minutes turn again and do the same as
above. Now you can start turning every 5 minutes, basting after every
turn. Take the lamb off the coals when medium done (about 50 minutes) and let it
rest for 10 minutes. Slice thinly and serve with the marinade that was
kept aside. (What I also like to serve with the meat is a fresh coriander pesto
made with salted pistachio nuts instead of pine nuts)

With the leg of lamb I like to serve oven roasted vegetables. I prefer
to use red and yellow veggies like:
Red and yellow peppers
Red onion
Nice sweet tomatoes
Butternut squash
Carrots
Just drizzle with olive oil, season and pop into the oven at 200 degrees C
until they're tender (about 40-45 minutes)

To complete the color scheme do a salad of green baby leaves and
parmesan shavings, squeeze some fresh lemon over and drizzle with olive
oil.

To all this you add good friends and wine and have a feast!

Wine to serve with this:
Flagstone Dragon Tree 2004 (CAB 44%, Pinotage 25%, Shiraz 17%,
Merlot 7%, Cab Franc 6%, bit of Petit Verdot)

I choose this wine because of the lovely fruit on the nose combined with
a subtle spicy richness, the gentle but prominent tannins, the fullness
on entry, the fruit showing well on the palate and the clean and crisp
finish that lingers. Although it is red meat we are having, looking at
the side dish and salad and the way the meat was prepared, this is a
very refreshing Sunday lunch and it needs a lively wine that will not
overpower everything.