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Baked Lamb with Potatoes

17/11/2023

Baked lamb with potatoes is a classic dish in Italian cuisine, particularly traditional for Easter lunch. Here is the recipe to prepare this rich and flavorful dish.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 kg of lamb shoulder (or leg)
  • 1 kg of potatoes
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • Sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 1 glass of dry white wine
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Coarse salt as needed
  • Black pepper as needed

Preparation

  1. Prepare the lamb: Clean the meat by removing any excess fat and pat it dry with kitchen paper. Make small incisions on the surface and insert the peeled garlic cloves and divide the rosemary sprigs.

  2. Season the meat: Massage the lamb with coarse salt and black pepper, then drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil, making sure the seasoning gets well into the incisions.

  3. Cook the lamb: Place the lamb in a roasting pan and pour over the glass of white wine. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. During cooking, baste the lamb occasionally with the pan juices to prevent it from drying out too much.

  4. Prepare the potatoes: In the meantime, peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters or wedges. Drain them well and season with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary torn into pieces. Mix well to flavor them evenly.

  5. Add the potatoes: About 30 minutes before the end of the lamb’s cooking time, add the potatoes to the pan, spreading them around the meat, so that they can soak up the cooking juices.

  6. Final cooking phase: Let the potatoes brown and the lamb cook through and become crispy on the surface. If necessary, during the last minutes, you can increase the oven temperature to achieve greater browning.

  7. To serve: Once taken out of the oven, let the lamb rest for a few minutes before serving along with the crispy potatoes and the cooking gravy.

Curiosity

In some Italian regions, it is traditional to marinate the lamb before cooking with wine, aromatic herbs, and spices for several hours or even overnight. This step is used to tenderize the meat and to make it even more flavorful.

Baked Lamb with Potatoes