Agnello al Forno con Patate — Roast Lamb with Potatoes (Molise)

Molise — lamb is the centerpiece of the Molisano Sunday table. The transhumance economy of the region, where shepherds moved their flocks between mountain summer pastures and coastal winter ones via the ancient tratturi, made lamb the primary meat of the region for millennia.

Molise is historically a sheep country — the great Apennine transhumance routes (tratturi) ran through the region for millennia, and lamb remains the dominant meat of the regional table. Agnello al forno con patate (roast lamb with potatoes) is the Sunday centrepiece across Molise: joints of young lamb (leg, shoulder) laid over a bed of quartered potatoes, sliced onion, garlic, rosemary, and white wine, then roasted in the oven until the lamb is cooked through, the potatoes have absorbed the lamb fat and wine juices, and the exposed surfaces are golden and slightly charred. It is the definitive one-pan roast of the southern Apennine tradition.

The roasted lamb develops a golden, slightly charred crust over tender, pink-centred meat; the potatoes beneath absorb the lamb fat and wine until they are rich, slightly crisp at the edges and yielding within. The garlic (which has roasted in its skin and becomes sweet and spreadable) and the rosemary perfume everything. It tastes of Sunday.