Roasted Lamb with Potatoes & White Wine (Roman Spring Lamb)

A beautiful dish for Easter, Roasted Spring Lamb with Potatoes & White Wine - good every time! The recipe is adapted from one of our favorite Italian cookbooks, The Silver Spoon. Have you ever cooked lamb before? Have questions? Try our LIVE! online, interactive Cooking Class from our farmhouse/cooking school in Italy on March 16th and make this dish right along with the Chef! (Details Here)

Roman Spring Lamb
Roasted Lamb with Potatoes & White Wine

1 kilo or 2 lb leg of lamb, in pieces (ask the butcher to do this for you)
flour for dusting
2 glugs of olive oil
3 sprigs of rosemary
a small handful of sage leaves
couple of cloves of garlic
glass of white wine
1/3 glass of white wine vinegar (about 5 tablespoons)
4 potatoes, sliced
salt & pepper
2/3 cup water, boiling
optional: 2-3 anchovies (or capers or anchovy paste)

Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C

Dust the pieces of lamb with flour, shake off the excess.

In a heavy bottomed roasting pan, over medium-high heat brown the lamb on all sides in a couple glugs of olive oil, turning frequently (about 10 minutes).

Once browned, season with salt & pepper. Toss in the rosemary, sage & garlic.
Combine in a glass the wine & vinegar, then add to the roasting pan. Reduce until almost all the liquid has evaporated, turning the lamb frequently.

Once the pan is almost dry, add the boiling water. Then top with the slices of potatoes (its OK not to cover the entire dish) and roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes until tender WITH a foil lid.

If it seems to be drying out - add in a little hot water mixed with a dash of white wine.

For something truly authentic, 10 minutes before the lamb is ready smush 2-3 anchovy filets in a bowl with a little of the pan juices/sauces and pour over the entire lamb/potato dish and return to oven to finish cooking for another 5-10 minutes.

Check your seasonings.
To Serve: pick out the stems of herbs and transfer the meat to a warm serving dish and spoon the pan sauces/gravy over the top with the potatoes.

Mint Infused White Wine Syrup / Cordial

On a hot afternoon, pass on the soda or sugary flavored teas and pour a cold glass of sparkling water with mint infused white wine syrup. The recipe is ridiculously simple and makes for a refreshing twist to an aperitivo or perfect for macerating fruit.

 Mint grows like weeds in our garden, popping up everywhere and spreading its long roots across the herb patch invading in on the chive and dill so I'm always looking for ways to use it!

Mint Infused White Wine Syrup / Cordial

Sciroppo di Mente

 2 bottles of white wine (I use a Verdicchio Chardonnay blend from Serenelli (March)
750 grams sugar
4 handfuls of mint (with the stems and everything)

Make a simple syrup of white wine & sugar by slowly melting the sugar in the wine.
Let cool then pour the syrup over a jar filled with the mint. Let sit for 5 days then remove the mint.

Serve: Mix with cold sparkling water to taste and a fresh picked mint leaf.

Mussels & Clams {Cozze e Vongole}

A great "Meatless Monday" meal is a heaping bowl of mussels & clams in white wine with crusty bread & a bottle of crisp Verdicchio D.O.C.  This dish literally is done in 5 minutes - it takes longer to clean the mussels and cut the tomatoes than the actual cooking time! You can add pasta to it if you like (spaghetti or linguini) but the fresh little clams are so sweet & delicious, this is one time there is no need for pasta!

Mussels and Clams in White Wine

Cozze e Vongole in Vino Bianco

Serves 4

1 lb or 500 grams of mussels, rinsed, cleaned & beards removed
1 lb or 500 grams of clams, cleaned
1-2 cloves of garlic
glass of white wine
couple of cherry tomatoes, halved
handful parsley, chopped
pepper or chili flakes
salt
olive oil
butter (optional)
arugula (optional)

In a large frying pan on low heat add 3-4 glugs of olive oil and slowly cook the garlic until brown all over. Remove & discard the garlic (if you like it, leave it in.)

Turn the heat up, add in chili flakes & clams - cook about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then add in the mussels. Turn up the heat and toss in the cherry tomatoes, sauteing for a moment or two. 

Next add a half glass of white wine and cover. Allow to sit covered 1-2 minutes at most until the shells open.  Then shut off the heat, add in your parsley. Finish with a bit of butter or good glug of olive oil.  Top with arugula if you like.

Serve immediately with plenty of good crunchy bread to dip & white wine wine.

La Rocciata: Rustic Apple Roll with Pine Nuts, Cinnamon & Sambuca

If you like to cook/bake with wine, olive oil & sambuca - this is the dessert for you!

A favorite fall/winter dessert at our farmhouse is la rocciata - a rustic apple roll stuffed with pine nuts, walnuts, cinnamon & golden raisins. Don't me mislead - the translation (the rock) has little to do with the consistency of the dough (as it is actually very light & flaky) but more to do with the word for 'round' in dialect. It is very similar to a strudel (and may even originate from it)-but better!

La rocciata may be most well known as a dish from our neighbors in Umbria. (Here's a fun fact- if you look across the 'street' from our farmhouse there is literally an island of Umbria in our front yard!) And since we love to share the little know recipes of our area, we'll let it slide this isn't traditionally known as Marchigiano - because it's just so delicious & simple! (Don't let the long ingredient list turn you off - half of it you just toss into the food processor.)

To really enjoy this spicy flaky treat buy a bottle of vin santo (wine of the saints or holy wine) & dunk your pieces in this rich woody-smokey dessert wine.

La Rocciata
Rustic Apple Roll with Pine Nuts

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 green apples, peeled, cored & chopped (cut to about the same size as the raisins)
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cut pine nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons Sambuca, anisette or brandy
1 egg, beaten

Mix oil & wine in a bowl
Pulse the flour, sugar & salt in a food processor. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time. Pulse. Add butter. pulse until in tiny pieces.
With motor on, add oil & mix until dough forms.
Turn out dough & kneed for about 2 minutes until smooth, adding a little flour if needed.
Wrap in plastic & refrigerate for 1 hour
Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit or 185 Celsius

Toss apples, nuts, sugar, raisins, spices & liquor in a bowl.
Divide dough into 4 equal pieces.
Roll dough between parchment to form 4 12x8 rectangles. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Return the dough to a lightly floured surface. Spoon a cup of the apple filling onto each rectagnle in a thick stripe about 1/2 inch up from along the edge. Roll up the pastry to enclose the filling, pressing the seams to seal. Transfer the rolls to a large cookie sheet, seam sides down & brush the tops with the beaten egg.
Bake until golden brown - about 35 - 40 minutes.
Serve warm & cut in half or into chunks.