Roast Spring Lamb with Mint Sauce

The story

Easter Sunday dinner ranked second only to Christmas dinner in the Irish year, and after six weeks of Lent it had to include meat. A saying recorded in West Cork held that "it's a great embarrassment to be without meat on Easter Sunday." Households that could afford it served spring meats such as lamb, veal or kid, along with chicken, and richer farmers gave meat to the poor so that they too could have a festive dinner. Lamb even had a part in the street customs that closed the fast. On Holy Saturday, after butchers had whipped a herring through the town and thrown it into the river, the procession carried back a spring lamb dressed with flowers and ribbons. Lamb also went into Easter hampers, and Irish Easter Sunday dinner still traditionally centers on a roast leg. Spring lamb needs little more than salt and pepper; garlic and rosemary are common additions, and mint sauce, thin and sharp, is the classic partner. Easter Sunday falls on March 28 in 2027. Make the gravy in the roasting pan while the meat rests, and serve roast potatoes and spring carrots alongside.