Its Spring and Lamb is on the menu!

There are a lot of sheep in Tuscany, hence all the pecorino cheese, which is sheep's milk.  An interesting fact I learned when I moved to the Tuscan countryside is, in order for an animal to give milk for cheese, it has to give birth occasionally.  In the case of sheep, this is once a year.  Unfortunately, there isn't room on the farm for every lamb born and some the lambs that are born in the late winter find their way onto the menu in the spring, in time for Easter.

My favorite way to eat lamb is "scottaditto", which are lamb chops grilled over a wood fire and served scorchingly hot, crusty brown on the outside, still pink on the inside.  In Rome they use the youngest of the lambs, called "abbacchio", which have only ever eaten their mother's milk, so the flesh is tender and pink and the fat is pure white.  There is also a pasta dish from Rome called "pajata" that is made with the intestines of baby lambs so young that there is still milk cooked inside them.  I've had it.  It tastes offal.  I mean, it tastes LIKE offal - not my favorite, but considered a delicacy!

Roasted lamb is traditional and below is the recipe.  Serve it with roasted potatoes that you've dressed with the same garlic, rosemary, sage and olive oil.

Roasted Lamb

Leg of lamb

1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary

1 tbsp minced fresh sage

½ tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt

2 cups white wine

                Salt the lamb, heat a pan with 1 teas olive oil over a high heat and brown the lamb all over.  Mix the rosemary, sage, garlic and olive oil together into a paste and rub it all over the leg of lamb.  Place it in a roasting pan, add the white wine and roast the lamb at 400 degrees until in reaches the desired temperature:

130-135 Medium Rare, 140-145 Medium, 150-155 Medium Well