Rosemary Leg of Lamb, Mixed Spring Salad, Red Currant and Kumquat Chutney, Roast Pots

We’re mad as loons and never fear an impromptu lunch that could have resembled a mock Easter. My neighbor turned up on Sunday afternoon with a leg of lamb that was sourced through the British Pantry in Budapest. We settled on the classic dish and abandoned the idea of spiking the lamb with anchovies. After a few hours, we sat down to late lunch. The delicious aroma was detectable outside on the street. 


Rosemary Leg of Lamb

1 leg of milk-fed lamb
20 garlic cloves
8 branches dry rosemary
2 tablespoons sea salt
60 cracked black pepper corns
½ bottle cooking-quality white wine (Kovesdi Chardonnay 2004)
1 tablespoon oregano

It was assuring to see the real thing: a pink and tender leg of lamb, thereafter cut into two joints. The shank and thigh were spiked in two large slits with some of the garlic, dry rosemary, black pepper, and salt, rubbed with same mixture, drizzled with a bit of olive oil and cooked for 1 hour at high heat in a gas oven: roasted first twenty minutes to seal, then marinated a few times with own juices and liberal amounts of white wine, extra garlic cloves, being careful not to let the nice juices burn for the next 40 minutes, pulled out a few times to admire, oregano only going on towards the end so it doesn’t burn either. Joints rested for 20 minutes with a nice jug of gravy.


Mixed Spring Salad

Fresh spring spinach, rucola, sorrel, iceberg lettuce, lovage and green onion salad with toasted sesame, sea salt, hint of brown sugar, balsamic and olive oil dressing.


Red Currant and Kumquat Chutney

2 cups frozen red currants (located as a result of thawing the freezer)
20 kumquats
½ a sweet onion, diced fine
3 piripiri peppers
2 tablespoons dry mint
2 tablespoons agave syrup.
½ teaspoon salt
Dash of oil
Dash of vinegar
Juice of half a lime
Knob of ground ginger

In hot skillet, no oil, add the sweet onion, tossing stirring frequently for a few minutes. Add currants, sauté, add agave syrup, mint, salt, ground ginger, kumquats, lime juice. Cook and reduce for about ten minutes. 


Roast Pots

Parboiled potatoes, roasted off in a mixture of lamb fat and 1/3 cup cooking oil, for about 20 minutes, with a liberal grind of sea salt.


Serves four (with enough leftover for sandwiches).

Served with Pántlika Dörgicsei Chardonnay 2009.


Comments: Some at the table would have liked the lamb a little more done (5-10 minutes more) or maybe some lemon as well, but otherwise it was a success and proved that you can get good Hungarian lamb, right now. I certainly don’t mind a bloody bone or two. It was as delicious as any of the fresh spring milk-fed whole lambs I’ve had the privilege to stuff or grill during Easter in Transylvania. The rosemary, wild and gathered in abundance on the southern coast of the island of Hvar, and black pepper, from Meraat Grocery here in Budapest, are also of great importance to this dish.