“That night her handmaids brought her lamb, with a salad of raisins and carrots soaked in wine, and a hot flaky bread dripping with honey. She could eat none of it. Did Rhaegar ever grow so weary? she wondered. Did Aegon, after his conquest?” -A Storm of Swords
Roman Lamb and Carrots
Thoughts:
This was a delicious dish. Hands down one of our favorites so far. The sweetness of the sauces suited carrots, raisins, and lamb alike, while drawing out their natural flavors. We served our with Naan bread, warmed in the oven, and iced milk sweetened with honey.
Cooks’ Notes: The original recipes come from Apicius (3.21.3, 6.2.7), the Roman writer of recipes. He details the ingredients for a carrot/parsnip side dish, and a sauce for cooked meat. I added the raisins to the carrot dish, and in both cases took out the garum (fish sauce) because of our tasters’ diet restrictions.
Carrots and Raisins
Ingredients:
- Carrots
- 2 Tbs. olive oil
- 2 tsp. cumin (roasted & ground seed is best, but powdered works well)
- 2-3 Tbs. honey
- equal portion of raisins as of carrots
- 2 Tbs. sweet wine
- 2 Tbs. wine vinegar (we used fig infused…YUM!)
- black pepper to taste
Cut the carrots into discs and chunks. Put in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and drain immediately. Add carrots, raisins, honey, vinegar, cumin, and pepper to an ovenproof dish. Drizzle the oil over top, then shake well to coat carrots, and roast in an oven at 400 degrees F until the carrots are tender. Add the wine to deglaze the sticky pan, and serve.
Lamb
Ingredients:
- lamb for 4 people
- 2 Tbs. honey
- 2 Tbs. wine
- 1 Tbs. wine vinegar (again, we used fig infused)
- 1Tbs. olive oil
- handful of currants
- ground pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients over low heat until they blend and begin to thicken. Pour over the meat and allow to marinate, or use as a sauce when the meat is served. We cooked our lamb outside on the grill for just a few minutes on either side.
Wow, all of these ideas!! My party’s going to rock, thanks to all your suggestions!
Hooray! Let us know how it all turns out!
I was looking at your Carrots & Raisins recipe, and while you call for the oil in the ingredient list, there’s no mention of it in the recipe. I’m assuming it’s added in with everything else?
Good catch! Yes, the oil goes in with everything else. I’ll fix that asap. :)
Did you make the bread as well? Martin has some of the most wonderful descriptions of breads in his work and I’d be interested to see what sort of interpretations you might have on those.
We used storebought naan for this particular meal, but did make some flatbread for our Casual Dornish Dinner. That recipe calls for ordinary pantry ingredients. We’ve also just recently stopped in at King Arthur, and gotten several more quirky flours, so check back for some more bread recipes soon!
I’m making the carrots & raisins with the honeyed chicken for dinner tonight, along with couscous, artisan bread & grapes, everything is starting to smell amazing!
I just made the carrots and raisins. It’s fantastic!
I (deliberately) used a dry wine instead of a sweet one, accidentally added it to everything else prior to roasting instead of later, and due to lazy translation on my part I even managed to confuse cumin (which I didn’t have at hand anyway) with caraway seeds – but apparently this dish can’t go wrong.
It tasted awesome, and will be prepared again (although I’m probably going to experiment with the carrot/raisin ratio).
I’m also going to prepare the poached pears from Highgarden within the week, possibly tomorrow. Your recipes are great!
How funny! It’s amazing to us how versatile and forgiving so many of these recipes are… Glad you liked it, and hope your pears turn out equally well!
It is spelled Meereen. Thanks for all the recipes, have to try some of them! Good photography as well.
I think a hot Paratha would be lovely with this – it is truly flaky and also rich.
YES! I always thought Paratha, rather than Naan for the buttery, flaky bread mentioned in the book.
I assume when the recipe says wine, it means red wine? :)
Yep! Although white also works in a pinch. :)
Hey guys I’m a very new cook and trying these recipes is a little daunting. I’m cooking for a group of about 9 would anyone have a suggestion on which main coarse to serve?
The lamb used to cook with here, is it medallions or some other cut?
Just trying the carrots & raisins salad recipe, adding some Jerusalem artichoke to the carrots. I used red pineau as a wine and just a few raisins, the dish is still in the oven but already smells really, really nice. As there is quite a lot of liquid I’ll probably end by making the sauce reduce on the gas before serving.Thanks a lot for your recipes !
is there any substitute for lamb that will be just as good? My daughter does not eat lamb.
Beef should work fine with the recipe.