LAMB

While this may seem like a complicated recipe, it's deceivingly simple. The lamb chops practically cook themselves in the broiler, and the pesto forms like presto after a whirl in the food processor.

The bright green star of the show is pesto made with mint, pistachios, and Pecorino Romano, rather than the typical trinity of basil, pine nuts, and Parmesan. Keep the mint-pistachio pesto slightly chunky so you can top it over the lamb chops like salsa.

While appetizer appropriate, lamb chops are a fairly expensive item that you may want to reserve for a special occasion dinner. To keep with the Mediterranean theme, serve these lamb chops over a bed of couscous or orzo.

Keep reading for the recipe.

Aside from the occasional lamb chop, how frequently are you eating lamb? Chances are, not terribly often. While lamb was big in the 1940s and 1950s, it's taken a nosedive thanks to the rise of other animal proteins. Currently, the average American consumes 85 pounds of beef annually; in contrast, Americans eat less than a pound of lamb each year.

Part of this decline, I suspect, is because many home chefs don't feel comfortable working with the meat; at its best, lamb is sweet and tender, with a distinctly exotic flavor, but it can also be ruined when the animal is old and gamey. But working with lamb is easy: all it takes is a simple understanding of seasonality, visual cues, and cuts. Master this, and you're virtually guaranteed to sit down to a succulent meal.

First Things First: What Is Lamb?

Technically, lamb refers to the meat of a sheep that is less than a year old. If you spot the term "hogget," that's the same animal at 1 to 2 years of age; anything older than this, and it's mutton. Unless you're a fan of a much stronger flavor, choose lamb, as sheep develop a gamier flavor as they age.

More — including the best season to buy lamb, what to look for, and popular cuts — when you read on.

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Artichokes, asparagus, peas, and rhubarb aren't the only products of nature that taste best between April and June — so do certain cheeses and meats, which are at their palate-pleasing pinnacle, too. Perhaps the most notable of these is lamb, not only for its symbolism during Easter, but also because the birth of lambs coincides with the first grass growth of Spring.

Enjoy the tender meat's unusual barnyard notes with a few of our top-choice recipe ideas below — like pistachio-pesto lamb lollipops to a classic French navarin.

Moussaka	Pesto Lamb Lollipops	Moroccan Lamb Tagine
Cardamom Lamb Chops	Navarin of Lamb	Roasted Leg of Lamb

It wasn't until recently that I started to feel comfortable cooking large roasts. In particular, I'd always been intimidated by roasting legs of lamb, until I learned that with high-quality meat, minimal preparation is all you need for a result that's truly impressive.

Any roast requires significant cooking time, so this may not technically be a fast recipe, but it most certainly is an easy one. I prepped my massive leg of lamb in just five minutes. Garlic cloves buried into the meat, a bed of rosemary, salt, and pepper, and a bit of red wine in the pan, and things were good to go.

Timing and internal temperature are everything when it comes to this type of cooking. There is the "slow and steady" school of thought, which recommends low temperatures and long cooking times, but frankly, I just don't have patience for that most of the time. I start my roasts at a high temperature for about 25 minutes or so and then lower the temperature to finish the cooking process. One huge factor in cooking time is whether or not your leg of lamb has a bone. A bone-in roast will take more time, and you're looking for a slightly higher temperature on your meat thermometer to determine if it's done. Those factors aside, it makes a more impressive table presentation.

For the recipe, keep reading.