At Christmas, you may hesitate between turkey, beef, ham or goose, but at Easter it just has to be lamb.
In the UK, lambs are slaughtered at six months or older, which makes them a very different animal from the small, light-coloured, milk-fed lambs of Greece and Italy.
A leg can weigh between 4lb and 7lb, and a larger leg should feed eight to ten people. Basting the joint during roasting with a wine and anchovy sauce flavours the meat and yields a lovely gravy.
Some homemade stock will help to make it richer. How pink should the meat be? Some like it rare, but longer, slower cooking makes for tender meat throughout and softens the connective tissue. Even if the meat is not so pink and juicy, it is tastier and makes for better cold leftovers.
