Lamb is one of the traditional European choices for Easter. Mint sauce made from the fresh mint – often thriving by Easter – is the perfect accompaniment as long as it is not too sweet.

Ingredients

For the Roast Lamb:

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 5-6 stalks summer savory
• 1 boned and rolled leg of lamb, about 3 1/ 2 pounds
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt

For the Apple Mint Sauce:

• 3/4 cup apple jelly
• 4 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2/3 cup chopped fresh mint

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and lightly grease a roasting pan. Cut the garlic cloves into slivers. Put some of these in the underside of the lamb where the bone was removed. Also, put in some savory leaves. Turn the lamb fat side up and with the sharp point of the knife make several deep cuts in the lamb. Put a sliver of garlic and some savory leaves in each one. Rub the salt into the fat then trickle on any remaining oil. Put the lamb in the preheated oven and roast for half an hour. Reduce the heat to 375 and continue roasting for another 40-50 minutes. This timing gives you well done meat on the outside with medium rare, slightly pink meat on the inside. Sprinkle any remaining savory over the meat and let it rest it for 5-10 minutes before serving with the apple-mint sauce.

To make the sauce, put the apple jelly and cider vinegar in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. Reserve a tablespoon of the mint. Add the rest to the jelly-vinegar mixture and simmer for another minute. Keep the sauce warm until serving time. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of mint just before taking it to the table.