I’ve mentioned in the past that I really love getting gifts. Books, jewelry, scarves….it’s all good. But what I really love to get is food. While a box of chocolates is nice, it’s always better when it’s something I don’t expect. And the best is when it’s something I’d almost never head out the door to buy myself.
Take, for instance, the lamb’s head I got last week as a gift. No. It didn’t come in a box with a ribbon. I was at the Farmer’s market and had just bought various cuts of lamb and chicken to see us through the next couple of weeks. It was a Sunday afternoon, and the market was due to close in an hour. Which is why, I guess, the farmer lady asked me if she could give me a lamb’s head.
Well, yes, you can. Thank you very much.
I love a challenge, and thought I could pretty much figure out what to do with a lamb’s head. But to be on the safe side, I asked the farmer and she gave me this super simple recipe.
The cooking part of things couldn’t have been easier. The photographing it for you all part of things? Not so much. How do you photograph a lamb’s head without it looking all pathetic? Actually, without it looking at all? (the whole face thing, you know)
And before any of you get all “ew” (or should I say ewe?) on me, stop right now. If you’re going to have the lamb chops, and the lamb roast and the leg of lamb, what do you think happens to the head? I’m really happy that the farmer didn’t want any cut of meat to go to waste, and was thrilled to finally try something I’d never had before.
And just in case you’re wondering, yes, there is meat on the head. Actually, most of what we ended up enjoying was the brain and the tongue. As well as bits of tender meat here and there.
So it wasn’t a huge amount of meat, but what was there was incredibly flavorful, and went perfectly with the roasted potatoes that made up the bulk of the dish, themselves infused with the lamb juices and herbs.
Next week I”m headed back to the Farmer’s market, but this time I’ll stop by the pork stand. I’m not holding out hope for the gift of a pig’s head, but maybe a nice piece of pork liver? I wouldn’t want it to go to waste.
Roast Lamb’s Head
Serves 2
1 small lamb’s head, split in two
3/4 pound potatoes
rosemary, 1/4 cup chopped
sage, 2 tablespoons chopped
salt & pepper
olive oil
Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C
Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks, and place in a pan large enough to hold the potatoes in one layer. Place the lamb’s heads on top, cut side up.
Drizzle liberally with olive oil, and rub all over head and potatoes. Sprinkle everything with salt and pepper, and add herbs so that everything is coated.
Cover pan with tin foil and place in oven for about an hour. 
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Your lamb has turned to a goat in the oven? Oh dear…
Great recipe. I often see lamb heads at the butcher but never quite had a recipe of it. My husband would no t eat any of this of course, But I am pretty sure I can manage one on my own. Brains!
Yes, it was the miracle of the animal’s head. (fixed it you attentive editor you.)
Very impressive!
This brings back memories. By the time I came around, this was food that had been literally relegated to the basement of Italian-American homes. And interestingly enough, it was mostly the men who both prepared and ate it. Perhaps there was a bit too much of “the old country: involved with its preparation and consumption for the newly minted American housewives. But the old men cooked it, and only the bravest of children would descend to the basement to partake. Nowadays the move toward humane treatment of animals meant for our consumption has made preparation and enjoyment of these forgotten and oft discarded parts the thing to do. The attitude among the adherents is that the animal gave its life, so let none of it go to waste. It is a stretch for many, but one worth while. In the same vein, even the art of butchering is now the subject of many cooking classes here in the U.S. A wonder how it all comes around again.
Adri, I knew you would understand – and express eloquently – exactly what I had in mind.
This brings back wonderful memories of my mother cooking this dish for my father and uncle. My sisters also went “ew” (Or ewe), but Daady loved it! Thank you, Thank you! Marianna
Elizabeth, Adri
I think that by the time our generation came along — the men took over in the offal department. But make no mistake about it: both in Italy and as new immigrants, women were the rock stars of the home. And how could it not be? After the unification of Italy, there was a mass exodus of men from Southern Italy — many of whom left for years. For countless women, it was literally do or die.
In my own family, it took my Great Grandfather 10 years to make enough money to send for his wife and children. In the meantime, it fell on my Great Grandmother to raise a young family of six.
Ironically, my GM was telling me this weekend about how her mother would slaughter and prepare chicken for the Sunday meal. When I commented that this must have been quite an ordeal, my GM said, “Not for her. She knew just what to do.”
Silly me, of course she did. And I am sure that there was not a part of those chickens (or pigs on their farm) that were wasted.
I particularly love the “split in two.”
Not Italian in the slightest, but my dad used to be the main consumer of offal in my family. He particularly liked brains, and tripe. My gran used to make the lamb’s heads into a casserole so as to disguise it’s origins after taking out the brains …
Growing up, my grandfather used to cook his pig’s head, tail, hoofs and every other part of the animal down in the basement kitchen. I was always disgusted as a young girl, but have grown to appreciate the resourcefulness of our elders. My husband also came from an immigrant family that valued all food, regardless of whether some people thought it was “trash” food. So it was only natural that after a deer hit my car on the highway, that my husband called the police asking if he could take the deer. Long story short, we served lots of venison to guests that winter – all of whom loved it. Why let something like that go to waste?
Why indeed?
When I lived in Chania, Crete, my partner’s father’s restaurant did roast lambs head once a week – only in the winter. Several were automatically reserved for regular customers and the remaining few were fought over – as only the Greeks can.
Offal has always played an important role in Greek cooking, for example the Maygeritsa, the after Easter Saturday church Lenten fast-breaking soup, includes bits of the heart & liver. And the best of all, Koukoretsi, all the lamb innards threaded onto a spit, wrapped round with the intestine to hold everything in place and then turned over glowing coals on a spit. Wonderful food.
thank you–lamb’s head is not just Italian or Moroccan–I guess it’s Mediterranean. I’ve lived in greece for 45 years and can’t believe I once thought mageritsa as once ‘ew”. But being half Italian I also remember my Grandfather and his lamb’s head-I was the granddaughter who got to sit at his right side and coming up eyeball level to the table top I still have memories of grandpa eating while the lamb just looked at me. I do wish though that americans weren’t so ‘ew’ all the time and wake up to a whole new world of eating.
Amen! It is Greek Easter and lambs head is available. I now live on a Greek island but previously lived in central Italy. I will eat most anything even though I can go days eating just vegetables, I also know how to forage. I was raised on a farm in the San Joaquin valley of California, we had turkeys. I knew what we ate. It may not be a pretty sight, but we should not waste, why make it into animal feed? You can’t even get the cuts of meat in the USA that I can get on this tiny island with wonderful butchers or what I can buy in the huge supermarkets in Umbria. Such a shame and loss for Americans!
Ohhhh, in Africa this is a the most sought meat by man . It’s simply the best meat and non fattening. It’s a pity my brothers in Africa now indulge in fatty meats and the tummy looks like a rondavelle house😜. I cook this and my twosome 5 and 3 years love it.
I live in the UK and in the mid fifties my grandmother would send me with a shilling to the local butcher to buy a lambs head for the weekend. I don’t know how she made it go around three adults and three children, she was such a good cook as well. We have now moved into the Welsh mountains and I have ordered half a sheep from the local farmer. She will let me have the offal as well including the head. It will be taken straight from the field and butchered for me, so fresh and tender. Really looking forward to it.