Those of you who have already left for the country or getting your balconies and garden ready for a lamb on the spit, ignore this post, at least for the next few days. Come back here later, because this is a recipe for a truly delicious lamb. For those of you who will stay in town and can’t exactly light a fire and rummage around coal, the oven baking of lamb or goat meat is a perfect alternative.
I don’t really need to say a lot about the potatoes getting a taste of honey after the slow baking and the flowing of fat (which makes all the difference), but I will say something for the artichokes. This time of year, they are in high demand, and in every grocery store and market you’ll find plenty. But you can get them in a bag from the supermarket freezer section, all the same. When baked with meat in the oven, artichokes are delicious, almost like dessert. They’re very beneficial to your health and nutrition and help with digestion, which will definitely be needed in the upcoming days!
Happy Easter! Have a wonderful time!
INGREDIENTS
For 4 persons
- 1 lamb leg or preferred part (1,5 to 2 kg, depending on the particular spot and how much soft meat there is)
- 1,5 kg of potatoes
- 8-10 artichokes (fresh or frozen)
- 120ml of olive oil
- Juice from 3-4 lemons
- Peel from 2 lemons
- 3-4 garlic cloves, more if you like it
- 1 tbsp of dry oregano
- 1 tsp of dry thyme
- 3-4 fresh oregano cloves
- 1 fresh rosemary clove or 1 tsp of dry rosemary
- 1 lemon, in slices (for the pan)
- 1 tbsp of spicy mustard
INSTRUCTIONS
Squeeze the lemons and pour the juice in a bowl, adding olive oil, the lemon peel, the dry oregano and thyme, mustard and two mashed garlic cloves.
Stir the mix and put it aside.
In the pan where the food will be cooked, spread out fresh oregano and rosemary cloves and the slices of lemon. Place the meat on the pan, sprinkle with plenty of salt and pepper, wear disposable gloves and, little by little, take some of the mix and rub it over the meat.
Spread well on the lamb, as shown in the pictures. Don’t use all of the mix. If you like garlic, which I believe is perfectly suited for the lamb, you can place it inside the soft meat of the lamb, after opening holes with the edge of a knife. My mother, who by the way makes one excellent oven lamb, pops several holes and pours salt, pepper and a garlic clove. That can only be done where there is soft meat, not on the breast sides or the ribs.
Also, don’t be stingy when it comes to lemon; a lamb has enough fat to need something acidic to balance it all out.
Chop the potatoes into pieces, pour them into a pan with artichokes and the rest of the garlic cloves, empty the remainder of the lemon and olive oil mix and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the pan in a preheated oven at 200 degrees with oven resistance, and as soon as the lamb and potatoes get a brownish colour, lower to 180 degrees.
Let it bake for three hours. You may, of course, lower the temperature even more and thus extend the baking time, which makes the meat even softer. In this case, simply cover the pan with aluminium foil or a lid.
- All of the above applies, in case you decide to use goat meat, instead of lamb.