Milk Fed Baby Lamb: Agnello Arrosto

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Margi Cintrano

Washing Up
Joined
Jan 29, 2012
Messages
3,424
Location
Both in Italy and Spain
Happy Holidays and Buongiorno,

Sheepherding is quintessential in Abruzzi e Molise, Italy. In the Gran Sasso Mountain Range, the secret to the divine roast lamb is, to rub herbs and Evoo on the lamb, 12 hours before roasting. This region of Italy, is an agricultural wonder.

Here is our Easter Roast Lamb Recipe:

One 5 to 7 pound boned and trimmed baby lamb
7 tblps evoo
1/2 cup of chopped herbs; oregano, savory, thyme, flat leaf parsley, mint, rosemary ... )

1. place the lamb bone side up on baking tray
2. rub 2 tblsps of evoo and 1/4 cup herbs on the lamb well, and marinate for 12 hrs. in covered deep glass dish
3. The next morning: preheat oven to 400 degrees farenheit
4. whisk 1/4 cup herbs and 1 tblsp Evoo and 1 shot glass of white wine and pour over lamb in roasting pan you are using
5. let sit 10 mins. before entering oven
6. roast the lamb until therometer reads 135 degrees for Medium Rare
7. baste with some more white wine and the pan juices
8. transfer lamb and pan juices to a platter and let stand 15 mins. before carving / slicing.
9. slice lamb on diagonal and drizzle lemon zest, fresh lemon juice and evoo lightly on lamb slices

*** serve with mint coulis or mint jelly and a red wine: Bordeaux 2003 or a Barolo or 100% Tempranillo from Valladolid or Zamora, Spain ...

Happy Easter.
Margi.
 
Bill,

ha ha ha ... Mint is one of the oldest Mediterranean Herbs ... As far as tobacco goes, I cannot say which is older ! ( tabacchi = tobacco )

Lamb is a very very rich meat, and thus, mint refreshes and cleanses palate ... however, if you prefer; a chuntney could be very lovely too ... Depends, on the individual palate ... Si ?

Happy Easter,
Margi.
 
Rock Lobster, Good Afternoon,

Is Chianti your fave Italian red wine ?

I prefer reds from Piamonte and Lombardia or Sangiovese grape wines ... Barolo is a nice dinner wine as well ...

Margi.
 
mint is one of the oldest harvested herbs because the damn things are so invasive that i don't doubt farmers have been trying to get rid of it somehow for millenia!

lol, "milk fed baby lamb" reminds me of a joke i told my boy. i told him if you get peanut oil from crushing peanuts, and olive oil from squeezing olives, where does baby oil come from?

the stunned look on his face was great...

margi, your lamb recipe is almost identical to my macedonian neighbor's recipe. they celebrate eastern orthodox easter, aka greekster :), so i look forward to sampling all of their delicious food 2 weeks after ours. yum. they always have herbed lamb, too.
 
Last edited:
Buckytom.

It is very common in lamb culture provinces or countries ... To marinate the lamb prior to roasting ... a medium rare interior and crispy herby crusty exterior ! Have a good red wine and enjoy. Macdonia is close to Croatia and Greece ...

Happy Holidays.
Margi.



Happy Holidays,
 
@ Bill,

We have our condo on the Adriatic on the southeast coast in Gargano Peninsula ... not in Tuscany --- so we do not go to Tuscany that often ... Tuscany is the designation of red wine that you are speaking of ...

Apulian wines were cultivated by the Greeks a millennium ago ... there is a huge re-viticulture movement and lots of indigenious red grapes in Apulia ... this is all in process now ...

I have been to Tuscany and the wines I had there were lovely ...

However, I prefer other designation of wines ... Piamonte, Lombardia, and I am quite an admirer of Spanish wines from Ribera del Duero also ...

Happy Holidays, it is time for the stroll about and sun coming out finally.

Margi.
 
Last edited:
@ Bill,

We have our condo on the Adriatic on the southeast coast in Gargano Peninsula ... not in Tuscany --- so we do not go to Tuscany that often ... Tuscany is the designation of red wine that you are speaking of ...

Apulian wines were cultivated by the Greeks a millennium ago ... there is a huge re-viticulture movement and lots of indigenious red grapes in Apulia ... this is all in process now ...

I have been to Tuscany and the wines I had there were lovely ...

However, I prefer other designation of wines ... Piamonte, Lombardia, and I am quite an admirer of Spanish wines from Ribera del Duero also ...

Happy Holidays, it is time for the stroll about and sun coming out finally.

Margi.
Three years of Castillian high school lessons and two years living in Italy have made me a linguistic basket case; but I have to blink when I see Piemonte called Piamonte. My mention of 'Sali E Tabacchi' was a reference to the past practice of taxing salt.
It is my understanding that Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is a red wine made from the Montepulciano grapehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis_vinifera in the Abruzzo region of eastern Italy and is different from the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from Tuscany.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montepulciano_d'Abruzzo#cite_note-Clarke_encyclopedia-1
 
Last edited:
@ Bill and Buckytom: Happy Easter & T.U. for posts

@ Buckytom: Firstly, thanks for your post. The historical methods of preparing lamb are very common in the Mediterranean ... And wow, this lamb is melt in mouth to die for ... a family tradition for Easter ...

@ Bill: To kick off with, Please excuse the haphazardness with my Italian fused with Spanish. PIAMONTE IN SPANISH IS PIEMONTE IN ITALIAN ...

Speaking of Abruzzi D.O.C. reds: Here are two that we are going to have with our roast lamb for lunch; Pie delle Vigne, Montepulciano d´Abruzzi, Cera Suolo and Corasuolo Camillo Montorri of same D.O.C.

There is a tremendous amount of enological upgrades and improvement in this region´s red wines. They are full bodied, smooth as velvet and have earthy smoke and ripe fruit aromas ... Exemplary.

Tabacchi = tobacco goods

Tabacco = tobacco

I should have looked up the expression before writing you ... Sal = salt in Spanish ... Did not catch: Taxes on salt ...


Happy Easter, and thank you for the coaching correction.

Margi Cintrano.
 
Last edited:
@ Sir Lion Beef,

Happy Easter ...

Firstly, we could never compare a traditional Mediterranean dish steeped in hundreds of years of history, to a quesadilla ... They are incomparable at best and I like quesadillas and most Mexican regional cuisines.

Secondly, there are those who uphold and respect family traditions and thus, for us, once a year or twice, having roast lamb is not redundant.

Have a nice Holiday.
Margi. Cintrano.
 
@ Bill,

Vitners and wineries are undergoing change ... so it all depends, if you are visiting a global exporter or a tiny winemaker, who shall do that --- the flask filler upper ...

Normally, we do get tastings with a Meze or Tapa, at the wineyards we visit ... and its wonderful --- I prefer making an appointment as a journalist and visiting a Vitner with a name and face, and who is interested in the meeting. I have interviewed many enologists and it is a fascinating subject.

Margi.
 
Last edited:
@ Buckytom: Firstly, thanks for your post. The historical methods of preparing lamb are very common in the Mediterranean ... And wow, this lamb is melt in mouth to die for ... a family tradition for Easter ...

@ Bill: To kick off with, Please excuse the haphazardness with my Italian fused with Spanish. PIAMONTE IN SPANISH IS PIEMONTE IN ITALIAN ...

Speaking of Abruzzi D.O.C. reds: Here are two that we are going to have with our roast lamb for lunch; Pie delle Vigne, Montepulciano d´Abruzzi, Cera Suolo and Corasuolo Camillo Montorri of same D.O.C.

There is a tremendous amount of enological upgrades and improvement in this region´s red wines. They are full bodied, smooth as velvet and have earthy smoke and ripe fruit aromas ... Exemplary.

Tabacchi = tobacco goods

Tabacco = tobacco

I should have looked up the expression before writing you ... Sal = salt in Spanish ... Did not catch: Taxes on salt ...


Happy Easter, and thank you for the coaching correction.

Margi Cintrano.
Salt taxes have been a part of Italian culinary life, indeed global culinary life. Salt taxes in Italy were a burden to the populous even in ancient Roman times but came to a head in the Renaissance. For a complete picture consult: Papal banking in Renaissance Rome: Benvenuto Olivieri and Paul III, 1534-1549 by Francesco Guidi Bruscoli, chapter 7, pages 145-153.
Until 1975, in Italy this tax was collected through fiscal monopolies and the imposition of import customs. The State had a monopoly on the manufacture and sale of salt, and fixed the final market price, which included the tax rate of about 70% of the selling price. Discount prices were fixed on salt for agricultural and industrial uses, while its production was tax-free in Sicily, Sardinia and in the towns of Olivigno and Campione d'Italia.
 
@ Bill,

Thank you kindly for your history buffery ... Since we have just bought the Condo, in late 2011, I had not been aware of the Salt Taxes, as The Vet handles this sort of thing ...

Spain does not have this Tax in Madrid as Madrid does not produce salt.

The Vet handles these kinds of things --- I handle others ... He had read your post a few minutes ago ...

It is quite interesting ... salt tax, cigarette tax, wine tax, beer tax, paper goods tax, toilet paper tax, Pampers tax, Kleenex Tax ...

Now that the country is part of the EU, things are quite different here ---

Well, thanks for the buffery.
Happy Easter Sunday,
Margi.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom