At Christmas, you may hesitate between turkey, beef, ham or goose, but at Easter it just has to be lamb.
In the UK, lambs are slaughtered at six months or older, which makes them a very different animal from the small, light-coloured, milk-fed lambs of Greece and Italy.
A leg can weigh between 4lb and 7lb, and a larger leg should feed eight to ten people. Basting the joint during roasting with a wine and anchovy sauce flavours the meat and yields a lovely gravy.
Some homemade stock will help to make it richer. How pink should the meat be? Some like it rare, but longer, slower cooking makes for tender meat throughout and softens the connective tissue. Even if the meat is not so pink and juicy, it is tastier and makes for better cold leftovers.
A festive touch is to serve the roast lamb with an intense, salty gravy and a sauce soubise, which is a mild white sauce flavoured with puréed onion and a bay leaf. The latter can be made the day before and reheated.
Redcurrant jelly and homemade mint sauce are also traditional accompaniments, and a bunch of watercress or rocket from the garden makes a perfect garnish.
If you are going to Mass at 11 a.m. on Easter Day, just turn off the oven and leave the meat to rest. Put it back onto a low heat later, while you warm the plates.
The accompanying vegetables should announce the new season, so smaller is better. Boil tiny new potatoes until tender, drain, coat with butter and sprinkle sea salt and chopped mint, parsley or chives.
Purple sprouting broccoli is another herald of spring. Look for it at a farmers’ market, if you can. Slice it lengthways (so that the stems are cooked at the same time as the heads) and steam or sauté in olive oil or butter with a little sliced garlic until just tender, then serve it sprinkled with salt and lemon juice.
Paschal lamb
1 leg of lamb 3 or 4 anchovy fillets 1 clove of garlic 1 cup of wine, red or white 1 sprig of rosemary freshly ground black pepper 1 cup of stock (optional)
Score the fat and rub some olive oil into the joint. Put it in the oven, on a rack, if you have one, and turn the heat on high, about 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6, for 15 minutes.
Then reduce the temperature to 150°C/300°F/ gas mark 2. After an hour, take out the joint and pour off the fat, together with all the juices, into a bowl. Scrape off anything that is stuck to the tin, using a little boiling water to dissolve it if necessary. Leave it to cool and remove the fat once it has solidified.
Meanwhile, combine the anchovies, garlic and about a cup of wine and process with a stick blender. Pour this over the joint in the roasting tin (the rack is no longer needed). Tuck the rosemary underneath.
Grind some black pepper all over and return to the oven. A large leg should need about another hour and a half at 150°C/300°F/ gas mark 2 to become tender. The juices that emerge while it rests will give some indication of how red it is inside. You should aim for a pale pink.
Baste the meat a few times while it finishes cooking. Allow it to rest in a cool oven while you warm the plates and make the gravy. Deglaze the roasting tin again. Remove as much fat as possible from the juices and combine in a pan with the earlier batch.
Sprinkle some flour on top and bring to the boil while whisking until there are no lumps. Add about a cup of homemade stock (any sort will do), if you have it. Boil until it is sufficiently reduced and strain into a warm sauce boat.
Serve on a large board, carve and transfer the slices of meat to a warm, garnished serving dish and pass around. Offer sauces and gravy alongside.
Sauce soubise
2 medium brown onions ¼ pint milk 2 tbsp butter 1 tbsp plain flour 1 bay leaf 2 tbsp double cream
Slice the onions, put in a small pan, cover with water, boil for three minutes and drain.
Put the onions back in the pan with half the butter and cook covered over a low heat until they are very soft. Stir occasionally, and do not let them brown.
Make a roux by melting the remaining butter in a pan and stirring in flour to form a paste, and add the bay leaf.
Add the milk gradually and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon after each addition to incorporate and prevent lumps.
Boil briefly and keep stirring until the sauce thickens. Remove the bay leaf, add the onions and process with a stick blender until the sauce is smooth. Add cream, and taste to check for salt.
Then enjoy and give thanks for a tasty Easter feast.
Photo by iStock at Getty Images.
This article first appeared in the April 2024 issue of the Catholic Herald. To subscribe to our multiple-award-winning magazine and have it delivered to your door anywhere in the world, and receive our limited-time Easter offer, go here.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.