Downton Abbey is one of our favorite shows, so in honor of the show's finale on Sunday, I made a Sunday Roast for dinner. Charles specifically requested that I make Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce because he says it is the most traditional Sunday Roast in England. Also per his suggestion, I cooked onions and potatoes along with the lamb. The final result would even impress Mr. Carson who seems quite critical of Mrs. Hughes' cooking skills on Downton! (Ok, I am a super fan). But seriously, we loved this recipe.
Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce would be a great dinner to serve on Easter, since it only requires about 20 minutes of active preparation time, and you can simply purchase a larger cut of meat of serve more people. The mint sauce and the cipollini onions give the meal a lighter fresher flavor making it fitting for Spring (which is hopefully right around the corner).
Ingredients
- 1 lb Top Round cut of Lamb
- 2 cloves of Garlic crushed
- ¼ cup Finely Chopped Shallot
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Zest
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Pepper
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 lb Baby Potatoes
- 5 Cipollini Onions
- For the Mint Sauce:
- 4 tablespoons Finely Chopped Mint Leaves
- 1 teaspoon Granulated Sugar
- 2 pinches of Salt
- 1 tablespoon Hot Water
- 3 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 400 degrees. While the oven is heating up, chop the onions. I roughly chopped them into smallish chunks, you can chop them however you like. Then slice the baby potatoes in half. Place the onions and potatoes in a roasting pan and drizzle 1 tablespoons of olive oil over, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper. Stir to evenly coat the potatoes and onions and arrange in the roasting pan leaving a space in the middle for the lamb.
- Next combine the garlic, shallot, lemon zest, and remaining salt, pepper, and olive oil in a small bowl. Then use your hands to spread this mixture all over the lamb, and place the lamb in the middle of the roasting pan.
- Place the lamb and potatoes in the oven and let cook for 30 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook for another 45 minutes to 60 minutes. I cooked a 1 pound cut of lamb and it reached 145 degrees (medium doneness) after cooking for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.
- While the lamb is roasting, prepare the mint sauce by simply mixing the chopping mint leaves, granulated sugar, salt, hot water, and red wine vinegar together.
- Once the lamb reaches your desired level of doneness, remove it from the pan and let it rest. The potatoes will be soft, but not crispy. Stir the onions and potatoes in any of the remaining juice from the lamb. Increase the oven temperature to low broil (or broil if low broil isn't an option). Place on an upper oven rack and watch carefully letting the potatoes cook for 3-5 minutes until browned, pulling the potatoes out of the oven to stir as needed.
- Carve lamb, top with the mint sauce and serve with the potatoes.
Adapted from Jamie Oliver.
