Pigeon Cottage Kitchen

I love Easter. It has great religious significance of course, celebrating Christ’s resurrection after his crucifixion, but it also symbolises ‘newness of life’ and heralds the arrival of spring. The trees are full of pink and white blossom and tiny green leaf buds, the garden is full of cheerful yellow daffodils, birds are building their nests, lambs are about to make an appearance on the hillsides. It’s all so uplifting after a cold, wet winter. Besides who doesn’t love an Easter egg or a toasted hot cross bun? For our big family Easter lunch, we’ll be having this butterflied leg of lamb marinated with lemon, rosemary and garlic and my take on a salsa verde sauce. Plenty of oven roast potatoes with tomatoes, courgettes and leeks charred on the BBQ and a Basque cheesecake for dessert. Bring it on!

Ingredients

• Large leg of lamb, butterflied i.e. with the leg bone removed
• Marinade: 4 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary, the zest and juice of a lemon, 2 tsps fine salt
• Salsa verde: 1 shallot, 1/2 clove of garlic, 1 heaped teaspoon of baby capers, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, a pinch of salt, 130ml extra virgin olive oil, 1 chopped tbsp each of flat leaf parsley and fresh mint leaves

To make…

• Ask your butcher to butterfly the lamb for you, or remove the bone yourself if you have the time using a sharp boning knife. You should end up with a long roll of lamb in a single piece. Place skin side down in a shallow dish.
• To make the marinade, crush the garlic into a paste with a little sea salt using a mortar and pestle. Stir in the oil and mix thoroughly, add in the rosemary, salt, lemon juice and zest until you have a thick paste. Pour over the lamb meat and massage it into all the little nooks and crannies and then smear the skin side. Cover with clingfilm and leave it to infuse overnight in the fridge or for at least six hours.
• Remove the lamb from the fridge to come up to room temperature for an hour.
• Heat up your BBQ . We use a Weber gas BBQ. Once it’s up to temperature (200°C) place the lamb on the rack and cook for about 35 minutes – turn it occasionally so it’s beautifully charred on the outside and pink and juicy on the inside.
• Once cooked, remove from the BBQ and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving to serve. Pour over any juices that have accumulated on the carving board, sprinkle the slices with a little sea salt and serve with the salsa verde.
• Make the salsa verde ahead of time. It makes enough for a screw top jam jar. Dice the shallot and garlic as finely as possible. Tip it into a bowl and then finely chop the parsley and mint. Roughly chop the capers. Mix together in the bowl and then stir in mustard, lemon juice, vinegar, salt and olive oil. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Combine thoroughly and transfer to your jar and cover until you need to serve.

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