Jamie Oliver, who built his empire on Italian cuisine, promised to delve into English cooking. Here he tackles a great British classic: minted lamb, with a surefire recipe accessible to all.
The story
Jamie Oliver's return to his roots begins with a great classic of English cuisine: minted lamb, an Easter must-have. There are many stories surrounding this ancient dish, whose sauce was already mentioned in a recipe book from 1828, Modern Domestic Cookery by W. A. Henderson. But centuries earlier, in the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth decreed that lamb and mutton should be paired with bitter herbs, actually to reduce their consumption and thus promote the wool trade.
The reasons for this pairing are varied: some say that lambs in the past had much more pungent odors than today and that the balsamic quality of mint worked wonders in covering them up. Others mention seasonality: usually, the butchering takes place in spring, around Easter precisely, just as mint proliferates in the fields.
Finally, some argue that there's chemistry at play: both ingredients are rich in branched-chain ketones, which would naturally make them compatible and inclined towards marriage, according to the principles of food pairing. Especially if the animal has grazed on clover and rye grass, producing an aromatic compound bridging the fatty acids of the meat and the ketones of the herb, at least according to Scientific Reports.
Jamie Oliver's recipe is smart and quick, in the style of the house, but it retains the core of the original with its usual cunning. The recommended pairing is a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Torre dei Beati.
JAMIE OLIVER'S ROAST LEG OF LAMB
Ingredients for 8 people
- 2 legs of lamb or kid
- 1 head of garlic
- ½ bunch of rosemary
- 1.5 kg of potatoes
- 1 lemon
- Olive oil
- Sea salt and black pepper
For the mint sauce
- 1 bunch of fresh mint
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 3 tablespoons of wine vinegar
Method
Remove the lamb from the refrigerator an hour before cooking to bring it to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 200°C and place a baking tray for the potatoes on the bottom.
Divide the garlic head into cloves, peel 3 cloves, and leave the others unpeeled. Strip and roughly chop half of the rosemary needles. Peel and halve the potatoes.
Crush the peeled garlic in a bowl, add the chopped rosemary, finely grate the lemon zest, and drizzle with olive oil. Mix well.
Season the lamb with sea salt and black pepper, coat it with the marinade, and massage the entire meat. Place it on a baking tray.
Blanch the potatoes in salted water for 10 minutes, then drain and steam dry. Return them to the pan.
Add the remaining rosemary and whole garlic cloves, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Arrange the potatoes in the meat tray so they can absorb the juices.
Bake for an hour and a quarter if you want it pink, an hour and a half for well-done.
Meanwhile, prepare the mint sauce. Strip and finely chop the leaves, then gather them in a bowl. Add the sugar, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon of hot water, and the vinegar.
When the lamb reaches the desired cooking point, remove it from the oven and let it rest for fifteen minutes. Serve sliced with roast potatoes, mint sauce, and seasonal vegetables.
