“You shall have a perfect male lamb in its [first] year; you may take it either from the sheep or from the goats.
And you shall keep it for inspection until the fourteenth day of this month, and the entire congregation of the community of Israel shall slaughter it in the afternoon.
And they shall take [some] of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they will eat it.
And on this night, they shall eat the flesh, roasted over the fire, and unleavened cakes; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
You shall not eat it rare or boiled in water, except roasted over the fire its head with its legs and with its innards.” Exodus 12
These were God’s instructions to the Israelites before leaving Egypt, and it is known as the Egypt Passover sacrifice. The lamb sacrifice was later performed in the Temple in Jerusalem and blessed by the priests on the eve of Passover (the fourteenth of the month of Nisan) every year.
The lambs (or kid) were roasted and eaten after the ceremony, per God’s instructions.
But with the destruction of the second temple, any sacrifice was forbidden by most of the rabbis who believed any sacrifice could only be performed in the temple.
However, Rabban Gamliel II, who lead the Jewish assembly right after the destruction of the second temple, thought the sacrifice could continue at people’s private homes.
To this day, most communities refrain from eating any roasted meat , so it will not seem as if they’re trying to recreate the Paschal lamb. Eating lamb is allowed, as long as the meat is not roasted, but cooked in liquid.
The Samaritans, a community that originated from the ancient Israelites and resides mainly in today’s West Bank, still performs a communal lamb slaughtering.
It is very interesting to note that some Jewish communities adhered to Rabban Gamliel II idea. The rabbis (kessim) of the Ethiopian Beta Israel community used to perform a communal slaughtering service, using a lamb that was purchase by the whole community. This tradition disappeared when the community moved to Israel.
Tunisian Jews used to slaughter a lamb on the eve of Passover in the yard of their private home. More than that, one of the family members would dip their hand in the lamb’s blood and print it on the side of the house, similar to the way Moses asked the Israelites to do back in Egypt.
Tunisian and other Middle Eastern Jews use spring veggies in many of their Passover recipes, especially artichokes and green fava beans.
The recipe here is for the tried and true combination of lamb and spring veggies. The lamb is not roasted, but instead cooked with some liquid in a covered pan. It’s traditional and delicious.
Lamb shoulder with spring vegetables
Course: Main courseCuisine: Israeli, Jewish, Middle EasternDifficulty: Medium6
servings45
minutes2
hours45
minutes1
hour30
minutes5
hoursServing lamb with seasonal veggies for the Passover Seder is common practice at many Middle Eastern Jewish communities.
Feel free to use any fresh and seasonal veggies that you find.
INGREDIENTS
One 3 to 3½ lb. lamb boneless shoulder roast
6 anchovies in oil
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoons cumin seeds
1 tablespoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon dried ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 garlic cloves, halved
Grated zest of one lemon
½ cup white wine
- For the roasted vegetables
3 pounds of spring veggies, such as green and white asparagus, green onion or leeks, peeled and sliced sunchokes, halved baby artichokes, endive, green fava or green beans
Oil spray (such as PAM)
Olive oil
Kosher salt
DIRECTIONS
- hours before you wish to serve the lamb, take the shoulder out of the fridge. Open it on a cutting board to reveal the inner part. Using a mortar and pestle mash the anchovies and spread them over the inner side of the lamb shoulder. To the same mortar add fennel seeds, cumin seeds and salt, and crush with the pestle. Add ginger, nutmeg and 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and mix. Spread half the mixture over the inner side of the lamb, on top of the anchovies. Sprinkle garlic and lemon zest above. Roll the lamb back to a roast, use kitchen twine to secure the meat in a roll shape.
- Using a sharp knife, score the fat on the top of the lamb in a crisscross pattern at 1 inch intervals. Using your hands, spread the rest of the spice mixture over the lamb and massage the meat. Cover and leave at room temperature for one and a half hours.
- While the lamb is resting, roast the vegetables (recipe below).
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Put 1 tablespoon of oil in a Dutch oven (or another oven proof pot) just large enough to hold the lamb shoulder. Place the Dutch oven over medium high heat. When the oil is smoking put the lamb in, fat side down, and brown for 5-6 minutes. Flip to the other side and brown for 4-5 minutes longer. Add the white wine and remove from the heat. Cover with pot with lid and transfer to the oven for 2½ hours. After about one hour, open the pot to make sure theres enough liquid (about ½ to 1 cup of liquid is fine), and drizzle from the liquid all over the lamb. Continue to cook until it’s been roasted for 2½ hours. Lamb should be very tender, almost falling apart. Uncover lamb and roast for 15 minutes longer to brown the top.
- Transfer lamb to a large cutting board or a serving platter, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest for 10 minutes. Chop the lamb to serving size sections and drizzle pan juices on top.
- Arrange roasted veggies around lamb and serve immediately.
- To make lamb in advance
- Cook lamb a day or two earlier, following the instructions above. Let cool completely and transfer to fridge with juices from pan.
- Before serving, turn oven to 350 degrees. Remove lamb from fridge, skim fat from juices, remove twine from lamb, slice to ½ inch slices and arrange in an oven proof pan. Pour juices on top, cover with aluminum foil and reheat for 45 minutes. Remove foil, let lamb roast for 10 minutes to brown the top.
- Remove from oven and let lamb rest for 10 minutes, lightly covered, before serving.
- In the meantime you can reduce the pan juices into thick sauce by cooking them down in a saucepan over medium heat until thick and dark in color. Serve next to lamb.
- For the roasted vegetables
- You can roast the vegetables as the lamb is resting outside the fridge.
Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. - Arrange veggie on rimmed baking sheets (separate artichokes and sun chokes from the rest of the veggies, since they take longer to roast.)
- Spray veggies with oil, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and roast until tender, 25 minutes for baby artichoke or sunchokes, about 10 minutes for the rest of the veggies, shaking baking sheet occasionally. Keep aside until lamb in ready.
