Gather Round the Table: Lambing Season

This time of year, in small family farms all over Iowa, the new lambs are beginning to arrive.  It’s a stressful time for farmers – it keeps them up until all hours of the night at a time when they might rather be gathering strength for the coming planting.

It is not always easy to predict when a ewe is going to lamb.  The gestation period is variable according to breed (averaging about 150 days or so), and the signs she may give vary widely as well.  She may wander off to a far corner of the pasture, she may paw at the ground as if to make a nest, and she may grit her teeth, or she may be very restless, laying down and then getting up rapidly.  Some ewes may give no sign at all before lambing, but fortunately, they are usually the easy mothers.

While this is a demanding season for farmers, it’s an exciting and hopeful time for cooks like me.  Arriving as it does at the same time as Spring Training and the first crocus sprout, it is an unambiguous harbinger of spring, and a sign that roast leg of lamb will soon be on the table.

Many folks like to serve a lamb roast for Easter, but if you want to do that, you need to freeze a leg from the end of last season, or buy one from as far away as New Zealand (which tastes different and is on the other side of the planet).  The humanely raised lambs in this area are available from roughly July through January, but right now is the time to order yours.

Some of the best lamb in Iowa is raised at ZJ Farm in Solon, and Susan says you can call her now to reserve yours (they are still quite young but can be reserved now).  They go fast and on a first come, first served basis.  All organic and raised entirely on pasture with their mothers, this is some of the most delicious lamb you’ll find anywhere.  Email zjfarm@ia.net or leave a message at 319-624-3052 to reserve yours.

Now, once you have your lamb, what do you do with it?  You’ll have too many various cuts for me to discuss in this space, so we’ll concentrate on the leg (I can always answer your other questions at Devotay@mchsi.com).  Tell the butcher you’d like the legs boned, rolled and tied (called BRT in the trade).  Also, be sure to have them save all the bones for you for stock and sauce making.

These BRT legs are easy to roast.  Figure on roughly 20 minutes per pound at 350 degrees f.  Place the leg on a rack in a shallow roasting pan, Seasoned with salt and pepper, fat-cap up, in the center of the oven.  After 30 or 40 minutes, toss some chopped onion and garlic in the pan and sprinkle chopped rosemary and thyme on the top of the roast.  Continue roasting until the internal temperature is 125 degrees f.

 When you roast any piece of meat, what happens is very similar to what happens if you burn yourself – that is, the blood runs away from the heat.  The longer the roast cooks, the more these juices are concentrated in the center of the meat.  Eventually the pressure builds up, and these juices follow the path of least resistance, along the grains of the meat and out into the bottom of the pan.  When this happens, you have well done roast when what you want is medium-rare.

 So, check the internal temperature regularly with an instant-read thermometer.  It will rise quickly after about 100-110.  At 125 remove it and allow to rest, covered, for 15-20 minutes.  This allows the juices to redistribute throughout the meat as the temperature actually rises a bit more from the residual heat.  The result will be a perfect medium rare.  Slice and serve right away, and save the leftovers for a great sandwich, sliced thin on rye bread with mustard and cucumbers.

Next time: Earth Day at the Table

		Kurt Michael Friese, Gather Food Correspondent
	Gather ‘Round the Table is a regular feature of Gather Essentials: Food. Chef Kurt Michael Friese is a freelance food and wine writer & photographer. He is also the co-owner - with his wife Kim - of Devotay, a restaurant in Iowa City, serves on the Slow Food USA Board of Governors, and is Editor-in-Chief of the local food magazine Edible Iowa River Valley. He lives in rural Johnson County, Iowa. Keep up with Kurt Michael's food series by joining his network, or subscribing to his content.