Agnello con Rosmarino - Lamb with Rosemary
Every Easter time Nonna Zita could not be convinced not to slaughter the lamb, we had seen it grow, had fed it, played with it, taken walks and even had given a name to it. You could plead and cry but nothing made her change her mind. Easter could not be the same without the roasted lamb. At this point we all went to nonno Stefano to see if he could convince her but every year it was the same story. He too would not dare get into the argument. It was safer for everyone to just let it go and let nonna have her roast of lamb. The butcher finally did his job and the poor animal ended on the table. The strange thing about the story of the poor lamb was that Zitas` grandchildren, me included, always ate the roast completely forgetting all the commotion we had made about the killing of our poor pet.
The preparation of this dish is fairly easy and fast.
Zita always served this with roasted potatoes cooked in olive oil, garlic, and lots of rosemary, salt and pepper.
You will need:
- a leg of “agnello “
- of about 2 lbs,
- 3 or 4 branches of rosemary
- 3 or 4 pieces of garlic
- 1 glass of white wine
- a glass of extra virgin olive oil
- 3 or 4 bay leaves
- salt and pepper
You have to make a few small deep cuts into the meat and insert part of the ingredients, the rest you place in the pan with the oil and the wine and cook in the oven until the meat next to the bone is slightly pink. Now we can use a meat thermometer, Zita used a long sharp knife and cut next to the bone.
Add the potatoes, so they can absorb the fine taste, when the meat is half done.
If you pre-cook the potatoes for about 10 minutes, let them cool down and add then to the meat; those potatoes will absorb less fat.
