Lammelår med rosmarin

The story

Lamb and oranges are the two staples of Norwegian Easter, according to the Scandinavian baking site Skandibaking, which links the lamb to the Christian image of the Lamb of God. Visit Tromsø, the city's tourist board, writes that the traditional meal on påskeaften, Easter Eve, is a leg of lamb slow-roasted in the oven. In 2027 Easter Eve falls on Saturday, March 27. The Norwegian recipe site Matoppskrift calls lamb at Easter a tradition in this country and recommends roasting the leg at 125°C, about 257°F; its classic lamb roast, credited to the Norwegian recipe site Matprat, takes two to three hours. That recipe feeds six from a leg of about 2.5 kilograms, roughly 5.5 pounds. The seasoning is plain: salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary. Water, onion and carrots go into the pan under the meat, and the strained juices become the gravy, finished with a spoonful of blackcurrant juice or red wine and a little soy sauce. Matprat serves it with cream-gratin potatoes, snow peas, carrots and mushrooms. Start the roast about four hours before dinner, counting the hour at room temperature and the rest, and trust a probe thermometer rather than the clock.