Baking an Easter Lamb is a beautiful tradition in Bulgaria…
I remember as a child my grandparents and my parents preparing each year this meal, but I have hardly ever realised that it is based on my grandmother’s own recipe or was it passed by from generation to generation I really don’t know.
What warms my heart is that using her recipe I have something inherited from her, something precious and important that I can cherish and treasure, that will stay with me forever.
The lamb, cooked following her recipe is indeed exceptionally delicious and moist, well baked and falling into pieces of pure delight.
Ingredients
- 1kg lamb chops
- 1l tomato paste (liquid not thick)
- 1tbsp of plain flour
- 1tbsp red pepper powder
- 1tsp black pepper
- 1tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 100ml sunflower oil
- A bunch of fresh mint leaves
- A bunch of fresh lovage leaves
Method
1. Start by preparing the marinate sauce for the meat. Mix in a deep bawl the oil, the tomato paste, the red and black pepper, plus the salt and the flour. Deep each piece of the meat in the marinate sauce and arrange on a flat oven tray for backing. Once all meat pieces have been dipped into the sauce, spread any remaining marinate pouring over the lamb. In-between each lamp piece tuck generously mint and lovage fresh leaves. Cover the tray with backing foil.
2. Preheat the oven to 200C and bake the lamb tray for 1hour.
3. Decrease the oven heat to 150C and bake the lamb for one more hour.
4. Uncover the lamb by removing the foil and bake for an additional one hour until the meat is well baked.
