Easter is just around the corner and in Italy is celebrated as heartily as just about any place in the world.  The celebrations generally incorporate elements of both Christian and pre-Christian culture but virtually all people celebrate with lamb for dinner.  The Easter ham that is a tradition in the US is essentially unheard of here, but of course the same sort of effort goes into the dinner. Young roasted lamb is the dish of choice and having a few bottles of Chianti Classico around will set the lamb off nicely.

INGREDIENTS

1 Lamb Roast (1/3 - 1/2 pound per person)

Olive Oil

1 sprig rosemary

Salt and Pepper

1 potato per person, quartered

RUB

1 garlic clove

2 sprigs rosemary

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tsp olive oil

Salt and Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  To make the rub mince together all ingredients with a minimum of 1 tsp of salt and pepper ( I like a little more) this should be the consistency of paste so if you substitute dried herbs you will need to slightly increase the amount of olive oil.

Take the roast and cut slits evenly around the roast and coat the roast with the rub, stuffing the slits so the flavors can bake through the meat. Place in a roasting pan with a layer of olive oil completely covering the bottom of the pan. Coat the roast with olive oil and put the cut potatoes around the roast.  Sprinkle the roast and potatoes with the remaining herbs.

Bake for 40 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the roast (about 8 minutes per pound) basting every 10-15 minutes.  If you’re in Italy drink as much Chianti as possible, Monday is a holiday, if you’re in the US, you have to be a good kid and go to work the next day.