Roasted Lamb with Potatoes and Oregano

La storia di questo piatto

This is Sunday made edible — a dish born where the Aegean light falls heavy on stone courtyards and Orthodox bells dissolve into the afternoon air, where Greek families have gathered for generations around a shared table that smells of wild herbs and burnt olive wood.

Ingredienti

• 1200 g Boneless lamb shoulder
• 800 g Yellow-fleshed potatoes
• 2 medium White onion
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 3 tablespoons Dried Greek oregano
• 2 whole Lemon
• 150 ml Extra virgin olive oil
• 400 ml Hot water
• 2 teaspoons Sea salt
• 1 tablespoon Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 sprigs Fresh rosemary

Preparazione

1. Cut the lamb into chunks of 5-6 centimeters and pat them thoroughly dry with paper towels: if they remain damp they will never brown properly the way they should, they'll stay gray and sad in the pan. Season them generously with salt, pepper, and oregano, massaging the meat with your hands the way you would work a dough, then let it rest for a quarter of an hour so that the flavors penetrate deep inside.
2. Heat the oil thoroughly in a wide braising pan over medium-high heat, and brown the pieces of lamb on every side without crowding them, otherwise they'll steam rather than brown. A dark, fragrant crust must form, but the interior stays raw: don't worry about it, it will cook later, slowly and patiently. When each side is well browned, transfer them to a plate and let them wait there.
3. In that same pan, without washing it—all the flavor from the lamb remains there—soften the onions cut into wedges and the crushed garlic, stirring frequently so they don't burn. After a few minutes, when they smell sweet and have become somewhat soft, add the potatoes cut into large chunks and the remaining oregano, stirring well so everything absorbs all those flavors.
4. Return the lamb to the pan in the middle of the potatoes, pour in the lemon juice and hot water: you'll hear a beautiful sizzle, it's the aroma of Sunday beginning. Cover everything with aluminum foil, pressed tightly at the edges so the steam can't escape, and place it in the oven at 160°C: here you need only patience, let the slow heat do its work for two and a half hours.
5. Remove the foil—you'll see the meat already becoming tender and the potatoes swimming in the pan juices—raise the oven to 190°C and let it brown without the cover. The potatoes must take on color at the surface and the lamb become so tender it practically falls from the bone just by looking at it sideways: if it needs a few more minutes, don't be in a hurry, the meat will tell you itself.
6. Remove it from the oven and let the pan perfume the entire kitchen before you even bring it to the table. Garnish with fresh rosemary crumbled in your hands and one final squeeze of lemon juice, which awakens all the flavors that fell asleep in the oven. Bring the entire pan to the table just as it is, hot and steaming: this is how you celebrate Sunday in Greece, all together around the same dish.