December 12, 2025 • 6 mins
This slow-cooked lamb dish is a festive treat and it’s super simple to make spectacular with a final flourish of pomegranate jewels and fresh herbs that make the whole thing feel properly celebratory.
Ingredients
- 1 butterflied leg of lamb (1.6–2kg)
- 3–4 garlic cloves, slivered
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp runny honey
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp each ground cumin, ground coriander, smoked paprika
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
- ½ cup white wine (optional)
- To finish: Pomegranate seeds, mint leaves, flat-leaf parsley, extra orange zest
Method
- Start by laying the lamb out flat and making small slits across the flesh so you can slip in those slivers of garlic. It’s a tiny bit of extra effort but the flavour reward is enormous.
- In a small bowl whisk together the orange zest and juice, olive oil, honey, mustard, spices, salt, pepper and rosemary. Pour this over the lamb and give it a good massage so every little nook gets coated. If you’ve time to marinate it for a few hours or even overnight, do — the flavours deepen beautifully.
- When you’re ready to cook, heat your oven to 170°C. Nestle the lamb into a roasting dish and pour any leftover marinade over the top. Add the stock and wine around the meat, then seal the whole dish tightly with foil. This is the trick to keeping the lamb meltingly tender. Slide it into the oven and leave it to slowly braise for about 2½ hours, checking halfway to make sure there’s still a little liquid in the base.
- Once the lamb is lovely and soft, remove the foil and drain off some of the juices for a gravy. Increase the oven temperature to 200°C. Return the dish to the oven for 15 minutes so the edges caramelise and the top gets all sticky and gorgeous.
- Let the lamb rest for a good 15-20 minutes on a board or plate before slicing or pulling it into big, rustic chunks — it will be fall-apart tender.
- Pour the reserved pan juices back into the roasting dish. Mix 1 heaped tbsp of flour with some 2 tsps. soft butter to form a paste and add this to the roasting dish. Stir and simmer until it thickens a little for a gravy.
- To serve, pile it onto a platter and scatter over pomegranate seeds, mint, parsley and a final grating of orange zest. Serve gravy on the side.
The colours are pure Christmas and the flavour is sunshine on a plate. Pair it with simple greens or a herby summer salad.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
A'd be right now, though. Time to catch up with
our cook Nicky Wex is here this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Kilda Kilder, I'm all about Christmas.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yes, well, so I made a butterfly League lamb on
the barbecue the other day. I slightly overcooked it.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I did it.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I know, It's just one of those things where I
was like, you know what, this could have just numbered
two minutes least time on, you know.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Just I mean it was a bit tough.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It wasn't too tough, but I just wasn't quite as
juicy as it could have been because I think it.
I know, I know, it was really frustrating, but I mean, yes,
but the point is that a butterfly League lamb, when
done well, is so so good, And truth be told,
it's actually usually pretty easy to do well.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
It's so easy to do well. It's so easy to
get tons of flavor into it. I mean, I love
bone and cooking because that's one thing. But once you
take the bone out and then you've got all that
surface area that you can just jams and flavor into,
I love that so and if you slow cook a
butterfly leg of lamb, you sort of can't go wrong
because you're kind of after it really falling apart, because yeah,
(01:16):
on the barbecue, it can toughen up meat a little bit,
and it's easy to overdo. About three Christmases ago, I
had all these beautiful racks of lamb that I cooked
for my family, Like we were just drowning in racks
of lamb because I've given them which was fantastic, and
I undercooked them and so they were just a little
bit pink and a little bit chewy, and it was
(01:36):
it was opposite to what you need. Two more minutes
and we would have been going, this is the best
thing ever. So here's my slow cooked lamb leg. It's
butterfly and it's beautiful. You could just use the whole
bone and if you like, but get your butchered to
take the bone out. What I'm also going to say
to our listeners is lamb is a price at the moment.
Oh my goodness, it's a price, but it is Christmas.
(01:57):
This is you know, for your Christmas you could use
a butterfly chicken for this. I'm also going to suggest
that you could use three or four egg plants if
you're going with vegetarian way, and I'll give you a
few little tips and tricks along the way for those.
So look, I lay my lamb leg out and make
some small little slits in it. This extra little step
is great, and I wanted you to slip in little
slivers of garlic in to there. It's a tiny bit
(02:21):
of extra effort, but the flavor award is absolutely enormous.
And then in a small bowl, you're gonna whisky all
these flavors, zest and juice of one orange, two tablespoons
of olive oil, two tablespoons of honey, one big teaspoon,
a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, and then a teaspoon each
jack of ground cumin, ground coriander, and smoked Paprikas you've
(02:43):
got these beautiful flavors going on, and a good heaped
teaspoon of flaky sea salt is a great idea, and
some freshly ground black black pepper. I throw in a
little bit of rosemy there as a sort of an
ode to our lamb as well, because I can't resist,
and so pour that all over the lamb and give
it a really good massage into every kind of nook
and cranny that you can. If you've got time to
(03:05):
marinate it over night, great or for a few hours, fantastic.
If you haven't, well, them's the brakes. So oven goes
on about one sixty one seventy nestle lamb into a
roasting dish, and then I pour over any of that
left over marinate, and then add in about it one
cup of stock and half a cup of white wine.
You could delete the wine if you like and use
(03:25):
a little bit more stock. And then what you want
to do is put a double laugh oil over this
so it's really really tight, so nothing's escaping out of there,
no steam or anything. This is the trick to getting
it really meltingly tender. Slide it into the oven and
braise it for about two and a half hours. I know,
hot summer's day in New Zealand, but why not. If
(03:46):
you're using a chicken, you can do everything that I've
just told you. But maybe we're looking at one and
a half hours, and if you're using eggplant, I'd probably
go one and a half hours as well, ex because
we want that melting all right. Check it halfway through,
possibly see if you need to sneak the steak in
a little bit more liquid into the base. Usually I don't,
and then once it's soft and lovely, remove that and
(04:08):
remove the foil. Drain off some of the juices. You're
going to use those in a minute. Increase the oven
temperature to about two hundred degrees celsius, and then return
the dish in there, because you want it a bit
brown and crispy on the edges. That's kind of what
we're after. And then here's the gig that turns it
into the Christmas thing. You're going to pull it apart
into big chunks. Slice it if you can, but you know,
(04:29):
really we're just looking at a big pull apart here.
Put those pan juices into a roasting into the roasting dish.
Good heaped tablespoon of flour in there with some soft butter,
and then just make that into a little gravy. It's
just similar way until it's all thickened. And then to
serve it, we're piling it onto a platter. We're scattering
over either some cherry tomatoes or some pomegranate seeds. We
(04:53):
want some red in there. Hello, it's Christmas. Lots of
mint leaves, lots of chopped parsley, a final grate of
orange zest in there serve the gravy on the side
and the colors in the flavor of This is just
Christmas round and as I say, it will look and
taste just as delicious. If lamb is beyond you will
reach this summer this Christmas. Then you can use a
(05:15):
beautiful butterfly chicken. Or you could take three or four
egg plants, slice them lengthways down, leaving them attached at
one end and sort of fan them out and that
way you get all that marinate in there. So there
you go. I think this is going to be a
centerpiece for Christmas that you'll love. Yeah, and just to
under or overcook it like you and I approach you obviously.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And apparently I don't want to give too much away.
But next week, you think if our final Saturday morning to.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
It is And look, next week we're going to do
the grand finale, the desserts. And if anyone wants to
have a look at the canvas in the Herald today,
I have got a trifle in there, and I have
got a pavlover. I've got something different for you obviously
next week, but that'll get you. That'll get your started
to this week.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So there you go.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I love Christmas dinner.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah, I'll look forward to next week to that sounds amazing.
Thank you. We're going to make sure that recipe for
the slow cook butterfly lamb leg slash chicken slash eggplant
is up on the News Talks EDB website so you
can cook along at home as well.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks EDB from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
A'd be right now, though. Time to catch up with
our cook Nicky Wex is here this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Kilda Kilder, I'm all about Christmas.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yes, well, so I made a butterfly League lamb on
the barbecue the other day. I slightly overcooked it.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I did it.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I know, It's just one of those things where I
was like, you know what, this could have just numbered
two minutes least time on, you know.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Just I mean it was a bit tough.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It wasn't too tough, but I just wasn't quite as
juicy as it could have been because I think it.
I know, I know, it was really frustrating, but I mean, yes,
but the point is that a butterfly League lamb, when
done well, is so so good, And truth be told,
it's actually usually pretty easy to do well.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
It's so easy to do well. It's so easy to
get tons of flavor into it. I mean, I love
bone and cooking because that's one thing. But once you
take the bone out and then you've got all that
surface area that you can just jams and flavor into,
I love that so and if you slow cook a
butterfly leg of lamb, you sort of can't go wrong
because you're kind of after it really falling apart, because yeah,
(01:16):
on the barbecue, it can toughen up meat a little bit,
and it's easy to overdo. About three Christmases ago, I
had all these beautiful racks of lamb that I cooked
for my family, Like we were just drowning in racks
of lamb because I've given them which was fantastic, and
I undercooked them and so they were just a little
bit pink and a little bit chewy, and it was
(01:36):
it was opposite to what you need. Two more minutes
and we would have been going, this is the best
thing ever. So here's my slow cooked lamb leg. It's
butterfly and it's beautiful. You could just use the whole
bone and if you like, but get your butchered to
take the bone out. What I'm also going to say
to our listeners is lamb is a price at the moment.
Oh my goodness, it's a price, but it is Christmas.
(01:57):
This is you know, for your Christmas you could use
a butterfly chicken for this. I'm also going to suggest
that you could use three or four egg plants if
you're going with vegetarian way, and I'll give you a
few little tips and tricks along the way for those.
So look, I lay my lamb leg out and make
some small little slits in it. This extra little step
is great, and I wanted you to slip in little
slivers of garlic in to there. It's a tiny bit
(02:21):
of extra effort, but the flavor award is absolutely enormous.
And then in a small bowl, you're gonna whisky all
these flavors, zest and juice of one orange, two tablespoons
of olive oil, two tablespoons of honey, one big teaspoon,
a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, and then a teaspoon each
jack of ground cumin, ground coriander, and smoked Paprikas you've
(02:43):
got these beautiful flavors going on, and a good heaped
teaspoon of flaky sea salt is a great idea, and
some freshly ground black black pepper. I throw in a
little bit of rosemy there as a sort of an
ode to our lamb as well, because I can't resist,
and so pour that all over the lamb and give
it a really good massage into every kind of nook
and cranny that you can. If you've got time to
(03:05):
marinate it over night, great or for a few hours, fantastic.
If you haven't, well, them's the brakes. So oven goes
on about one sixty one seventy nestle lamb into a
roasting dish, and then I pour over any of that
left over marinate, and then add in about it one
cup of stock and half a cup of white wine.
You could delete the wine if you like and use
(03:25):
a little bit more stock. And then what you want
to do is put a double laugh oil over this
so it's really really tight, so nothing's escaping out of there,
no steam or anything. This is the trick to getting
it really meltingly tender. Slide it into the oven and
braise it for about two and a half hours. I know,
hot summer's day in New Zealand, but why not. If
(03:46):
you're using a chicken, you can do everything that I've
just told you. But maybe we're looking at one and
a half hours, and if you're using eggplant, I'd probably
go one and a half hours as well, ex because
we want that melting all right. Check it halfway through,
possibly see if you need to sneak the steak in
a little bit more liquid into the base. Usually I don't,
and then once it's soft and lovely, remove that and
(04:08):
remove the foil. Drain off some of the juices. You're
going to use those in a minute. Increase the oven
temperature to about two hundred degrees celsius, and then return
the dish in there, because you want it a bit
brown and crispy on the edges. That's kind of what
we're after. And then here's the gig that turns it
into the Christmas thing. You're going to pull it apart
into big chunks. Slice it if you can, but you know,
(04:29):
really we're just looking at a big pull apart here.
Put those pan juices into a roasting into the roasting dish.
Good heaped tablespoon of flour in there with some soft butter,
and then just make that into a little gravy. It's
just similar way until it's all thickened. And then to
serve it, we're piling it onto a platter. We're scattering
over either some cherry tomatoes or some pomegranate seeds. We
(04:53):
want some red in there. Hello, it's Christmas. Lots of
mint leaves, lots of chopped parsley, a final grate of
orange zest in there serve the gravy on the side
and the colors in the flavor of This is just
Christmas round and as I say, it will look and
taste just as delicious. If lamb is beyond you will
reach this summer this Christmas. Then you can use a
(05:15):
beautiful butterfly chicken. Or you could take three or four
egg plants, slice them lengthways down, leaving them attached at
one end and sort of fan them out and that
way you get all that marinate in there. So there
you go. I think this is going to be a
centerpiece for Christmas that you'll love. Yeah, and just to
under or overcook it like you and I approach you obviously.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And apparently I don't want to give too much away.
But next week, you think if our final Saturday morning to.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
It is And look, next week we're going to do
the grand finale, the desserts. And if anyone wants to
have a look at the canvas in the Herald today,
I have got a trifle in there, and I have
got a pavlover. I've got something different for you obviously
next week, but that'll get you. That'll get your started
to this week.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So there you go.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I love Christmas dinner.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yeah, I'll look forward to next week to that sounds amazing.
Thank you. We're going to make sure that recipe for
the slow cook butterfly lamb leg slash chicken slash eggplant
is up on the News Talks EDB website so you
can cook along at home as well.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks EDB from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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