42 days. 42 days until Jane walks down the aisle to meet me and we start a new chapter in our lives. These past few weeks have been jam packed! We’ve done the food tasting, last minute venue planning, tux rentals, dress fittings, wedding invitation planning and sending out, DJ booking, engagement photos, marriage licence, and lastly our meetings with the Father of the church where we will be getting married.
Despite all that, there is still more to do! However, since we’re coming to the final stretch things should start to slow down a bit. Seriously, every weekend has been packed with stuff wedding related for what seems like forever. Both Jane and I will be glad once the big day is here.
We just celebrated Easter, and with Lent behind us, you know there’s lamb on the menu. Hence this recipe: Roasted Lamb With Potatoes (Αρνί με πατάτες | Arní me patátes). If there is ever a meat associated with Greece, it’s lamb. It’s the meat I grew up on and is the meat you’ll find being served from Greek festivals to small Greek villages that lay in the shadows of Mount Olympus.
I wish I could tell you exactly why lamb is such a staple in Greek cuisine, maybe it’s because long ago they were originally bought for wool, as lamb is a baby sheep, and then the farmers and shepherds needed to eat, so….
Either way, on Easter, you can find whole lambs roasting on a spit in Greek’s backyards and sometimes in the center of small towns. It’s what we do. Well actually, growing up in America, I’ve never personally done that, we just get our lamb from the store and cook that, but you get the picture.
For those of us that don’t have the facility to roast a whole lamb, getting a leg of lamb from the butcher or your local supermarket is the next best option.
Don’t get me wrong, when you’re first buying a 4 to 5 pound of meat that’s not a turkey, it can seem a little intimidating. How am I going to cook this giant thing?!!?
There’s good news – it’s incredibly easy!
All you’ll need is a roasting pan, a few herbs, and some time. A few hours of baking, and boom – you’ve got yourself a delicious leg of lamb that you can cut and serve fresh out of the oven.
Adding potatoes and seasoning them with lemon is by no means unique. As a matter of fact, the leg of lamb is traditionally cooked this way.
The result is a well seasoned piece of meat and potatoes that carry a hint of lemon and all the wonderful juices they have absorbed from being cooked in the same pan as the lamb.
I’m seriously getting hungry thinking about this. It’s nice golden color, it’s juicy center..Mmmmm
Okay, Okay, enough – here’s the recipe! Give this a go and let us know what you think!
Kali Orexi
Kenton & Jane
Roasted Leg Of Lamb With Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4.5 - 5.5 pound leg of lamb
- 3 - 4 lemons
- 1 teaspoon oregano + extra for sprinkling over potatoes
- ½ teaspoon rosemary + extra for sprinkling over potatoes optional
- Olive oil
- 3-4 pounds potatoes we like red, cut into bite size pieces.
- Salt
- Pepper
- 3 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300F
- Unwrap lamb, wash with cold water, and place lamb leg on roasting pan - fat side up!
- Drizzle a light layer of olive oil over lamb
- Squeeze 1 lemon over lamb.
- Sprinkle with oregano, rosemary, salt, and pepper
- Place in oven for around 2 hours, rotating and basting periodically. If pan gets too dry, add a little water.
- After 2hrs, remove and turn heat up to 350F.
- Spread the potatoes all around the lamb leg.
- Use remaining lemons, and squeeze over potatoes. Make sure to get a bit of lemon juice on the lamb as well.
- Sprinkle some oregano, salt, and pepper over potatoes (add rosemary if you’d like)
- Add the tablespoons of butter at different places around the potatoes.
- Pour ½ cup of water into the roasting pan.
- Place back in oven for 1hr, check center to see if done to your liking - may need 30 min or so more depending on preference (see below for meat temperatures).
Notes
*Use a meat thermometer to obtain your desired temperature: 145 °F (medium rare), 160 °F (medium), or 170 °F (well done) - adjust time accordingly.
Recipe adapted from: Vefa’s Kitchen
