In my early 20s, when I hardly cooked at all, I would sometimes notice my roommates prepare dinner simply by putting some meat in a pyrex dish and baking it in the oven, and I wondered how they made it so easy. This, I still believe, is one of the great advantages of lamb. It’s one of the only foods I can think of where pretty much all you have to do is throw it on a pan and roast it for 30 minutes or so, and you have dinner. You can add oil and seasoning, but you don’t have to; the generous amount of fat in the cut of lamb shoulder will do a lot, and it’s very difficult to overcook. Lamb was one of the first foods I made when I started to do a lot of cooking, and it’s what I cooked tonight when I got home late in the evening and brushed the lamb with mint and olive oil. Usually, when I have time, I add cumin.

(Photo: An assortment of mints.)

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