Father's Day Leg of Lamb with Mint Chimichurri Sauce

There's an old saying that the way to a man's heart is through is stomach, so what better way to show dad how much you love him than with a delicious meal on Father's Day.  For those of you still in need of a great grill idea, I've got something easy and crowd-pleasing, because, let's be honest, who wants to spend all day on Father's Day cooking?  

But who wants to eat well on Father Day?  Everyone.  

Grilled leg of lamb is something that is easy to make that also takes very little time and effort to prepare.  The real key to this recipe is temperature.  Leg of lamp is thick in some spots and thin in others, so getting the whole piece of meat medium rare is tricky.  The lamb needs to come off the grill when the thickest part if at 125 degrees, allowing some of the meat to be rare and and some to be medium.  Everyone is happy. 

While the meat itself has a great flavor, if you want to add a nice twist to it, here is a great version of Chimichurri sauce that nicely compliments the lamb.  Here's everything you need:

Take one leg of lamb, and 2 1/2 hours prior to cooking, whisk together 1/2 cup of Dijon mustard, 1/2 cup olive oil and lots of salt (Kosher) and pepper.

Slather the meat in the marinade and put it in the refrigerator..  Remove lamb from refrigerator 45 minutes prior to grilling to allow the meat to come to room temperature.

For the Mint Chimichurri sauce:

In the video below, you see I use a food processor to make this; that was a mistake.  I ended up needing to add additional hand chopped ingredients to get the right consistency, which is oily with chucks of stuff in it.  Mince everything below.

1/2 bunch of oregano (can be dried, but only this one ingredient; all other ingredients should be fresh)

1 bunch parsley,

2 bunches of mint,

3-4 jalapenos (remove seeds),

5 cloves of garlic,

1 Big splash red wine vinegar

1-1.5 cup olive oil

salt (kosher) and pepper

juice of 3-4 limes (grate some zest in if you want to get crazy)

Grilling the Lamb:

Make the grill as hot as possible.  Grill time will be approximately 15 minutes per side, but may be much less, depending on the thickness of the meat.  Grill side one for 12-15 minutes, flip, and after another 6 minutes start checking the temperature.  Get the meat off the grill at 125 (center temp, for medium rare in the thickest part). Leave grill on. Cover the lamb with foil and let rest for a least 10 minutes before you carve it (1/2 inch thick slices).  The thickness will vary so you will have some medium rare and some medium.  If you a cold center part, keep carving.  Take the pieces that are too rare and throw them back on the grill for 30-45 seconds per side.

Check out the video: