Lammstek med potatisgratäng

The story

Roast lamb is now the usual Easter Sunday dinner in Sweden, but it is a young custom. The Michelin Guide's account of a Swedish Easter says dinner on Easter Sunday is usually lamb, often with leftovers from the påskbord the day before. The ScandiCuisine guide calls the roast a completely modern tradition: lambs born early in the year were once too small to eat by Easter, and Swedish cooks now often buy chilled or frozen lamb from New Zealand, where the breeding season runs about half a year ahead. The Church of Sweden parish in Lidingö likewise calls Easter lamb a relatively new tradition in Sweden, with roots in the Jewish Passover described in Exodus 12, and recalls the Passover lamb that Jesus and his disciples gathered to eat on the evening of Maundy Thursday. The chef Per Morberg's recipe on the Swedish site Köket packs the roast with garlic, rosemary and thyme and serves it with potatisgratäng, sliced potatoes baked in cream and milk, which ScandiCuisine lists among the Easter sides. In 2027 Easter Sunday falls on March 28. Order the lamb a few days ahead and rely on a thermometer, since boneless roasts vary in thickness and cooking times can differ by twenty minutes.