The Sunday family lamb, in spring

I. Spring

Spring lamb — arní galaktós — is between six weeks and three months old. Pale pink, almost white, with a delicate flavour. White and sweet fat. The whole-animal spit-roast for Easter requires 3–5 hours over slow even heat, basted with olive oil, lemon, oregano. The person turning the spit does not leave.

II. The shoulder, the rest of the year

Arní sto foúrno — slow-roasted shoulder, bone-in, garlic, lemon, olive oil, dried herbs. Three to four hours minimum. Potatoes underneath, in the rendered fat. By the time the lamb is done, the potatoes have absorbed everything — the lamb is expected to be good, the potatoes are the surprise that is not a surprise.

III. The family

My uncle arrives at 9 AM. He checks the lamb. He has an opinion. He is not asked. He has it anyway. My aunt has been cooking this lamb forty years and accepts the opinion with a cup of coffee and silence. The cousins arrive. The children arrive. The football argument begins in the courtyard. The lamb comes out at one. The table is already set with horiatiki, bread, tzatziki, olives, handwritten-label wine. The lamb is the announcement that the meal is beginning, not the totality of it.

IV. After

The meal takes two hours. The eating is forty-five minutes. The lamb is what organises the occasion. The occasion is the table, and the people, and the afternoon that stretches until someone has to leave and nobody wants to be the first.

Recipe — Arní sto Foúrno — slow-roasted lamb shoulder

Georgia Vlahos · Heraklion · serves 6–8 · overnight marinade · 4 hours oven

• 6–8 serves
• 2.5 kg shoulder
• 160°C oven
• 3.5 h bake

Ingredients

• 2.5 kg bone-in lamb shoulder
• 8 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp dried Greek oregano
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• Salt and pepper
• 1 kg waxy potatoes, in large chunks
• 200 ml water or dry white wine

The method

1. Night before: cut pockets in lamb, insert garlic. Rub with oil, lemon, oregano, rosemary, salt, pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. Bring to room temperature 1 hour before cooking.
3. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Place lamb in roasting pan with potatoes and water/wine. Cover tightly with foil.
4. Roast 3 hours covered.
5. Remove foil. Raise to 200°C (400°F). Roast 30–45 minutes uncovered until browned and meat pulls from bone.
6. Rest 20 minutes. Serve with horiatiki, tzatziki, warm bread.

About the contributor

Georgia Vlahos

Georgia Vlahos writes about Cretan lamb traditions and Greek family food culture from Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Her uncle has been turning the Easter spit since before she was born.

Editor’s notes — the longer view

A note on the spit. The whole-animal Easter spit-roast requires constant attention for 3–5 hours. A job for a person who takes pride in it.

A note on the potatoes. Lemon-roasted potatoes are the side that gets the most attention even though the lamb is the headline.

A note on the bone. Keep it in. The collagen, marrow, structural integrity all depend on the bone. Boneless cooks faster and is meaningfully less interesting.

A note on the wine. Local handwritten-label Cretan wine — Liatiko, Kotsifali — is better with this meal than an expensive imported wine. The wine grew alongside the lamb.

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