Someone asked about recipes for haunches of venison.  Here's one I use with a leg of lamb; it works very well for a young leg of venison, too.  I'd advise larding the meat heavily, though.

This is a really elegant dish for a dinner party.  Boning out the leg makes it easy to carve at the table: Serves 8

Ingredients:
 

• 1 whole leg of lamb, 10-12 pounds, untrimmed, just as it comes from the meat packer
• 1 bag seasoned stuffing mix, preferably the finely-ground kind, not the type with large cubes of bread; Pepperidge Farm brand is my preference but  any brand will do. Cornbread stuffing also works very well.
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 medium onion
• 1 egg
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 stick butter
• Coarse kosher-type salt
• Pepper

Unwrap the leg, rinse, and dry.  With a small sharp knife (I use a 3" paring knife, as sharp as possible) bone it out in several stages.  First, cutting as close to the bone as possible, remove the piece of the hipbone that's present, exposing the rounded head of the femur.  With your fingers and the sharp tip of the knife, dissect the femur free of the surrounding muscle, being very careful not to puncture the side of the leg (or your fingers!).  Work down to the knee joint, and carefully cut the ligaments around it, disarticulating the two leg bones completely.  Do not remove the patella.  In removing the bones, take great care not to puncture the muscle or the connective tissue coverings.  The end result of the dissection should be a hollow leg with a cone-shaped inner pocket of considerable size.  There will be a flap of meat at the loin end which is folded over to cover the cavity after stuffing it. The lower leg bone can be left in place or you can remove it to make the roast totally boneless.  If you opt for the latter, be sure to sew up the end and any small tears you make getting it out.

Prepare the stuffing.  Put the seasoned stuffing in a large bowl, melt the stick of butter, and pour over the stuffing.  Dice the celery and onion, add them to the stuffing; beat the egg and add it, then mix thoroughly.  Pour the chicken broth in and stir until the entire mixture is uniformly damp and crumbly.

Pack the stuffing mix into the cavity in the lamb leg; it will usually take the entire amount, and it should be packed firmly but not too tightly, as it expands during cooking.  Fold the flap of meat at the loin end of the leg over to seal the cavity and pin it closed with skewers.  It's best to lace the end closed as well to prevent stuffing from leaking out.

Place the roast, fat side up, on a raised rack in a roasting pan, and sprinkle it heavily with coarse salt, and pepper.  Preheat the oven to 450° and put a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the leg.  Put the leg in the oven, and immediately reduce the heat to 325°. Bake uncovered until the thermometer reads 150-160°, or "medium."  (There is a popular misconception--perpetuated in many cookbooks--that lamb should be cooked "well done," but this tends to dry it out and is inadvisable. It should never be cooked past "medium.")  If you don't have a thermometer you can figure on about 15-25 minutes per pound, about 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 hours for a typical leg, depending on how cold it was when put into the oven.

Allow to sit out for about 10 minutes before carving and serving.  Serve with a good red wine.

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