It has become fashionable, it seems, to buy and serve spring lamb as early in
the season as possible, and perhaps this is at times to the detriment of its
eating quality. Easter traditionally heralds the beginning of the new
season's lamb and although it is jolly nice and festive to tuck into a roast
leg on Easter Sunday, the meat will generally benefit from being from
animals at least a few weeks, if not months, older.
Lamb right at the beginning of the season is unlikely to have come from
animals fed on grass but from those reared indoors and primarily on mum's
milk.
From May, June and onwards (and slightly later in upland areas) throughout the
summer, the lambs will have benefited from being weaned from their mothers
to grazing on grass and, depending on the quality of pasture, the meat's
flavour will have developed more interesting notes while retaining the
tenderness associated with young beasts.
So in my book, new season's lamb doesn't really start until May. While it is
usually available before then - and at my restaurant in south London I find
it hard to resist paying high prices for such special produce - I am
naturally grateful when the cost per kilo drops as spring lengthens into
summer.
Even as lambs mature into the older, flocculent statesmen of the clovered
fields they roam - they are hoggets at 12 months and mutton at 24 - the meat
can still be very tender, depending on the cut, of course. The flavour,
though, will continue to develop and become stronger, but by no means
unpleasantly so.
Mutton is a lovely thing, much underrated and unfairly maligned, but it lends
itself to a more sympathetic and slower cooking process such as braising,
whereas cuts from younger animals will suit grilling, sautéing and roasting.
Lamby leftovers
Away from the mayhem of the professional kitchen, I find it hard and not
altogether satisfying to buy and cook small bits of meat. When I am
purchasing for family gatherings and dinner parties, I tend to opt for far
larger pieces than I require for the number of diners expected.
This is a curious shortcoming, as I seem virtually incapable of cooking little
prissy cuts. It is just so much more enjoyable to roast whole joints and I
would not dream of asking a butcher to sell me a short leg or half a
shoulder. Of course, larger cuts may not suit all occasions and pockets, but
with pork and beef there will always be delicious cold cuts to enjoy the
following day if there are leftovers. But what is it about cold lamb that
makes it so much less appealing? It just doesn't taste as good cold.
If I have roasted a whole rib of beef or loin of pork for a large dinner
gathering and just managed to ram the remnants into the fridge before
staggering to bed, I will always wake up the following day with the happy
thought of high-quality meaty leftovers to savour.
The idea of half a cold roast leg of lamb lying in wait doesn't quite fit the
same bill. One often reads that leftovers can be employed successfully in a
hotpot, a shepherd's pie, a moussaka or some such, but in my experience,
these dishes are far better cooked from scratch with the appropriate cuts.
In early summer it is not difficult to think of fitting adjuncts to partner
lamb. In May and June asparagus is at its best and is wonderful with it.
Fresh broad and borlotti beans, peas, fennel, wet and wild garlic, round
aubergines, violet artichokes and courgette flowers are starting to arrive
in fine fettle from Italy, and of course our Jersey Royals are particularly
good with a roast leg, saddle or shoulder of lamb.
It is also quite trendy, but delicious, to crush freshly boiled new potatoes
with a fork and combine with a trickle of the potato water, olive oil,
minced shallot and herbs. This preparation is termed somewhat enigmatically
“écrasé” in some posh restaurants, but don't let that put you off; it's a
really good potato dish to eat with thinly carved, pink lamb (great with
grilled fish, too). Garlicky pan juices run off from the rested joint and
some buttered asparagus (or more healthily, grilled asparagus or courgettes)
are all that is required to make a fantastic Sunday lunch. That and a couple
of bottles of mature Pauillac, of course.
Bruce Poole is the chef-owner of Chez Bruce (www.chezbruce.co.uk
)
Serves six generously
1 leg of lamb on the bone (spring lamb, if your budget allows)
A small handful each of leek, celery, peeled carrot and onion, diced into 1cm
pieces
2 or 3 bay leaves
1 glass of dry white wine
3 whole heads of new season's (wet) garlic, or just normal fresh garlic
About 30 small Jersey Royals, scrubbed clean but not peeled 4-6 courgettes
Fresh tomato concassé (roughly chopped) from 3-4 tomatoes (optional)
About 8 anchovies or more
2 minced shallots, sweated in
a little olive oil or lamb fat
1 lemon
Olive oil
pint of good chicken stock (or water)
Fresh rosemary
Flat parsley
Preheat the oven to a medium to low setting, say 150C. Make sure the leg of
lamb is at room temperature before roasting. Season really well and colour
in a large flameproof roasting tray over a highish flame. When the leg is
nicely coloured, remove from the tray, add another slug of oil and throw in
the leeks, celery, onion and carrot with the bay leaves. Continue to cook
the vegetables until coloured slightly and sweated down. Add the wine and
reduce until the liquid has all but evaporated.
Add the chicken stock and bring back to a simmer, replace leg on the
vegetables and put in the oven for about 1 hours. Baste regularly with the
stock and vegetables, topping up with a little water if it gets too dry.
The vegetables
While the leg is roasting, prepare the courgettes. Cut off the ends and cut
each in half to form two shorter cylinders. Slice these in half again
lengthways to form half-barrel shapes. Trim off a little of the curved side
leaving a thick slice with two flat sides, about 1cm thick and 6cm long. Put
in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave to disgorge for about an hour.
The courgettes will become quite wet and should be dried thoroughly on
kitchen paper. Heat a big, non-stick or cast-iron pan over a high heat and,
without adding any oil, dry-grill the courgettes until blackened and
blistered slightly on both sides. It is important that they are completely
dry before grilling, otherwise they will steam and become soggy. This will
take about ten minutes. When nicely charred, set aside and let them cool
down before dressing in olive oil and ground pepper. Keep warm or at room
temperature.
Cook the Jerseys at a gentle simmer until cooked through and keep warm in
their cooking water. Split the heads of garlic in half with a sharp knife,
season well and colour, flat side down in a hot, thin film of olive oil in
an ovenproof pan over a highish flame. (You need enough heat to gradually
colour the garlic without burning it.) When the garlic heads begin to take
on a light golden hue at the edges, transfer the pan to the oven and
continue roasting until the garlic has softened, about 30-45 minutes at the
lamb-roasting temperature. Remove from the oven and keep warm. The garlic
should be a deep golden colour and appetisingly soft.
When the lamb has roasted, lightly wrap the leg in tin foil and rest for at
least 45 minutes at room temperature, but in a place free from draughts.
Keep the juices with the roasting vegetables and transfer to a smaller pan -
this will be the gravy. I like to keep the overcooked roasting vegetables in
the gravy, but if these offend you, pass the sauce through a sieve
discarding the veg and return the sauce to a gentle heat.
Cover the anchovies and some chopped rosemary with olive oil and a few drops
of water in a small pan and warm very gently until the anchovies have
amalgamated with the oil into a thin, melted, oily mush; this takes about
ten minutes.
Drain the Jerseys when still hot. Mash up roughly with a fork and add the
sweated minced shallot, some lemon zest to taste, a dribble of the cooking
water, chopped flat parsley and some olive oil. Season and keep warm.
And that is it! Carve the lamb (making sure that the extra juices go back into
the gravy) and serve with the grilled courgettes, the crushed potatoes, a
split roasted head of garlic and the gravy heated through with plenty of
picked rosemary and the tomato concassé, if using. Spoon a little of the
melted anchovy oil over the lamb - and enjoy.
Variations
This will still be a very fine dish without roasting whole garlic heads - just
add some chopped garlic to the anchovy oil or to the roasting vegetables
instead. Simply boiled new potatoes are also good instead of the crushed
potato salad.
