I’m springing into lamb season (get it?) with an easy Easter lamb recipe that includes the meat and potatoes all cooked in the same pan. Rosemary Garlic Roasted Lamb with Potatoes and Fennel served with my mother’s signature mint sauce.

A boneless leg of lamb studded with fresh rosemary on a bed of potatoes and fennel

How do you celebrate Easter? Easter brunch, lunch or dinner? I grew up eating the traditional British late lunch/early dinner similar to this one pan roast lamb with mint sauce.

Drizzling mint sauce over roast lamb

If you’re serving Easter brunch, I have a delicious selection of brunch items from Ricotta and Spinach Frittata, Baked Breakfast Potatoes with Eggs to something sweet like Orange and Apple French Toast Casserole. Also, don’t forget the Traditional Hot Cross Buns left over from Good Friday.

The way I love to season the lamb, and it’s a simple, but effective way, is to insert garlic and rosemary right into the meat and it flavors it perfectly. The outside gets rubbed with oil and a light sprinkle of salt and pepper, nothing more and all the flavors work happily together along with the mint sauce.

A bowl of mint sauce with roast lamb

For this Rosemary Garlic Roasted Lamb with Potatoes and Fennel, I used a boneless leg of lamb. You can use a bone-in leg of lamb but it will take a little longer to roast. I always say, it is best to go off of a meat thermometer rather than time when it comes to cooking meat as not all ovens are accurately calibrated for temperature. And this ensures perfectly cooked meat every time.

Roasting the lamb on top of the potatoes and fennel serves two purposes. It cooks the vegetables at the same time in the same pan (which saves cleanup) and flavors the potatoes in the best possible way.

A pan of sliced potatoes, fennel and onion in a roasting pan topped with roast lamb

As a rule in my house, you can’t have roast lamb without mint sauce. I know that most people know mint jelly, but growing up for my family it was mint sauce. Made very simply with freshly chopped mint, malt vinegar (very British), sugar and water. 

This mint sauce is my mother’s recipe that I would help her make whenever we had roast lamb. We always had large bushes of mint growing in the garden and it was my job to go and pick it.

So that takes care of the main event (lamb) and potatoes. For the EASIEST and tastiest veggie side dish, I have for you Roasted Carrots with Green Spring Garlic Pesto Story that will not only knock YOUR sock off, but the socks everyone who you are serving. Metaphorically speaking, of course…

Another Easter traditional dish is ham and Mandarin Orange Spiced Glazed Ham is perfect if you’re not a fan of lamb, or serve both, the best of both worlds.

Yield: 6-8

Rosemary Garlic Roasted Lamb with Potatoes and Fennel

A perfectly browned, roasted leg of lamb in a roasting pan surrounded by vegetables

Boneless leg of lamb is studded with garlic cloves and fresh rosemary then roasted over sliced potatoes, fennel and onion.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • For the mint sauce:
  • 3 teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons boiling water
  • 5 tablespoons cold water
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) malt vinegar
  • ¼ cup (20 grams) fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
  • For the lamb:
  • 4 pound (2 kg) leg of lamb (boneless or bone-in)
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • Salt & pepper
  • 8 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 8 sprigs rosemary
  • 4 medium potatoes, sliced
  • ½ teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 1 fennel bulb, sliced
  • ½ red onion, peeled and sliced

Instructions

  1. For the mint sauce:
  2. To a bowl add the sugar and boiling water. Mix until dissolved. Stir in the cold water, vinegar and mint. Set aside.
  3. For the lamb:
  4. Heat the oven to 425°F/220°C with the shelf in the lower part of the oven.
  5. Drizzle 2 tablespoons oil all over the lamb and rub with hand to even coat. Sprinkle evenly all over with salt and pepper.
  6. Use a sharp tipped knife to make 8 cuts at a slight angle evenly all over the top of lamb, just deep enough for the garlic cloves. Insert garlic and rosemary sprigs into each hole.
  7. Drizzle the bottom of a deep roasting pan with 1 tablespoon oil and spread evenly. Lay the potato slices in the bottom of the pan. Drizzle the rest of the oil on top of the potatoes and sprinkle salt, pepper and chopped rosemary. Top with the fennel and onion.
  8. Place the lamb on top of the vegetables and roast for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375°F/190°C and roast for 25 minutes per pound (per 500 grams) plus 25 more minutes for medium temperature (slightly pink). Best measured with a meat thermometer.
  9. 150°F/65°C for well done, 145°F/62°C medium well, 130°F/55°m for medium.125°F/52°C for medium rare. Longer if your lamb is bone-in.
  10. Remove from the oven and cover with foil for 10 minutes before slicing.
  11. Serve with the potatoes, fennel and onion.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 287Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 11gCholesterol 41mgSodium 84mgCarbohydrates 23gFiber 3gSugar 3gProtein 13g

This nutrition calculation is provided by Nutronix that is only a guideline and not intended for any particular diet.