Coscia d'Agnello al Forno con Patate alla Molisana

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg leg of lamb, Molisana mountain lamb preferred; scored deeply with a knife across the surface
• 6 garlic cloves, halved lengthways, for insertion into the scored incisions
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary, broken into short lengths for insertion into the scored incisions
• 1 kg waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into large wedges
• 200 ml Biferno Bianco, dry white wine of Molise; added halfway through roasting only
• 80 ml Molisano extra-virgin olive oil, divided: part for the lamb, part for the potatoes
• 1 tsp fine sea salt, for seasoning the lamb and potatoes
• ½ tsp black pepper, freshly ground
• Optional — regional finish
• 1 sprig nepitella (Calamintha nepeta), wild mint-oregano hybrid; placed beneath the lamb in the dish
• Optional — pro seasoning
• 4 fillets salt-packed anchovies, rinsed and cut into strips; inserted alongside the garlic into the scored incisions

Method

1. 1
   Two hours before cooking, score the leg deeply all over with a narrow knife — eight to ten incisions, each 3–4 cm deep. Press a half-clove of garlic and a short sprig of rosemary (and an anchovy strip, if using) firmly into each incision. Brush the entire surface with olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper. Leave uncovered at room temperature for 2 hours. The surface should feel slightly tacky and smell powerfully of garlic and rosemary before it enters the oven.
2. 2
   Heat the oven to 190 °C. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Par-boil the potato wedges for 8 minutes exactly, then drain. Toss the drained potatoes with the remaining olive oil, salt, and pepper. They should be tender at the surface but resist a skewer at the centre — this is correct.
3. 3
   Lay the nepitella sprig (if using) in the base of a large terracotta roasting dish. Set the lamb on top and arrange the par-boiled potatoes around it in a single layer. Place in the centre of the oven and roast for 45 minutes. The lamb surface should be golden and beginning to colour; the potatoes will have taken on the first of the rendered lamb fat.
4. 4
   This is where the dish lives or dies: at the 45-minute mark — not before — pour the 200 ml of Biferno Bianco evenly over the lamb and potatoes. Added too early, the wine steams the meat and destroys the crust; added now, it falls into a hot, fat-coated pan and immediately begins to reduce with the lamb juices into a concentrated pan liquid that is the only sauce this dish requires. The pan should hiss sharply the moment the wine hits it.
5. 5
   Return the dish to the oven for a further 45 minutes — 1 hour 30 minutes total roasting time for a 1.5 kg mountain leg. Do not exceed this: Molisana mountain lamb is leaner than lowland lamb and will dry out beyond this point. At the end of roasting, the leg should be deep golden-brown, the potatoes crisped and mahogany at their edges, and the pan liquid reduced to a glossy, amber concentrate. Pierce the thickest part of the leg: the juices should run faintly pink.
6. 6
   Remove the dish from the oven. Rest the lamb uncovered for 15 minutes — not tented, which would soften the crust. The juices redistribute during this time; the exterior remains crisp. After 15 minutes, the surface should feel firm but with slight give when pressed at the thickest point.
7. 7
   Carve the lamb at the table directly from the terracotta dish. Spoon the reduced pan juices over each portion — these are the sauce; no separate gravy is made. The potatoes should be yielding throughout and glossed with lamb fat and reduced wine.