This is a great roast lamb that is cooked with seasoned toasted breadcrumbs then the remaining pan juices are turned into a wine gravy.
This is a simple way to prepare a leg of lamb. I prepared a tied, boneless roast, and roasted about one hour and forty minutes, for a brown exterior and a rosy pink interior. I believe 45 minutes would leave you with a very rare roast, so use your discretion. In addition, I had to double (and then some) the amount of liquid to have a sauce. The amount specified in the recipe created a very thick paste. The meat and the gravy have a good flavor, however, and we enjoyed it, with these changes. - 18 May 2013
The flavor of the meat in this recipe is really good, but the cooking time is way, way, WAY off!!! At 45 minutes, my leg of lamb, which was only THREE pounds, was only about half done. I think the recipe meant to say cook 45 minutes, turn, and cook 45 minutes more. That'd be more accurate, though I'm still thinking it'd be a pretty rare dish. It took almost 2 hours for mine to cook. My family (including my carnivorous dad) really thought it came out very moist and loved the flavor, though, so I will make it again just keeping in mind that it takes a lot longer to cook. The gravy is kind of grainy because of the bread crumbs, but the meat almost doesn't need it. Next time I may just add some beef broth to the drippings and thicken it a bit and call it good. - 13 Apr 2009 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
This recipe is truly amazing! Several of the calculations are REALLY off. First of all, a 5 pound lamb serves a lot more than 4 people, unless you're feeding sumo wrestlers. Second of all, like a turkey or other roast, you can't fully cook 5 pounds of meat in 45 minutes. You do need about 1 hour per pound of meat. In light of needing about 5 hours to cook, I recommend that you add the bacon somewhere in the last 1/2 hour of cook time. - 19 Apr 2011 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)