So I got to make my first roast lamb just a few days after the pandemic reached the country... and I found the sheep breeder a few months earlier, when he offered raw wool for sale. I bought the wool, spun it, experimented with dyeing it with all kinds of plants from my garden, and now I'm sporting a beautiful poncho!
Then I decided to buy the lamb meat when it was offered. It was the first time that I bought meat not in a food store... but I know that sheep are butchered locally, under veterinary supervision, and in a very clean manner. What was the best thing about it now, considering the virus being possibly everywhere, that I know only three people touched the meat - me, owner, and the butcher. We didn't have to spend a long time indoors and we were able to keep safe distance.
Better than buying any food in a store right now!
However, I was still worried if I know how to cook it. I called my aunt, who is better at sophisticated meat processing... I mixed some herbs and spices with oil and rubbed it into the meat when it was at room temperature, and I also added some ground hazelnuts, because I happen to have plenty. I baked it in the oven slowly and it was *so delicious*! The first time I served it with rice and greens from my garden: young shoots of sugar peas, forsythia flowers and radish sprouts. When all the meat was gone, I cooked the bones and some leftover fat to make a bone broth. I still had some ground hazelnuts to add, and it was another delicious dish!
Next time (which will not come very soon, because I don't eat a lot of meat) I'll try to cook the adult sheep meat. Currently it's the most ethical meat source I have, and I love the taste of it.
Picture attached! I'm so proud that I grew all the greens for this dish myself.
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Roast lamb with rice, young shoots of sugar peas, forsythia flowers and radish sprouts.
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