Greek Lemon and Herb Roast Gravy

Greek cooking does not really do thick flour gravy. What you get with a lamb or chicken roast is the pan juices themselves: lemon, garlic, dried oregano and a lot of olive oil, cooked down with the meat and spooned over the potatoes. This version keeps that honestly thin and sharp, so it soaks into roast potatoes rather than sitting on top of them.

Ingredients

Makes about 400ml, enough for six plates

• the juices and browned bits from a roasting tin lamb or chicken
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus a little more to finish
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed with the flat of a knife
• 2 tsp dried Greek oregano rigani, the branch dried variety sold in Greek and Turkish shops, is far more aromatic than standard dried oregano
• 500ml (18fl oz) hot chicken or lamb stock
• 1 lemon, juice of, plus a few strips of the peel
• 1 tsp honey optional, if the lemon is very sharp
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• sea salt and black pepper

Kit

• Roasting tin
• Wooden spoon
• Sieve
• Small jug

Method

1. Lift the roast out of the tin and rest it. Tip the tin so the fat gathers at one end and spoon off most of it, leaving the darker meat juices behind along with everything stuck to the base.

2. Set the tin over a medium heat on the hob, add the olive oil and the crushed garlic and cook for two minutes until the garlic is golden at the edges but nowhere near brown. Burnt garlic will ruin this, so keep it moving.

3. Crumble in the oregano between your fingers as you add it, which wakes the oils up, and let it sizzle for twenty seconds.

4. Pour in the stock and scrape the base of the tin hard with a wooden spoon to lift every bit of the caramelised residue. That sediment is most of the flavour.

5. Add the strips of lemon peel and bring to a brisk simmer. Cook for eight to ten minutes until it has reduced by roughly a quarter and tastes concentrated rather than watery. It will stay thin, which is correct.

6. Strain into a warm jug, pressing the garlic through the sieve with the back of a spoon so it thickens the sauce very slightly.

7. Stir in the lemon juice off the heat, taste, and add the honey only if it is puckeringly sharp. Season well, whisk in a final tablespoon of olive oil for gloss, and stir through the parsley just before it goes to the table.

Tips worth knowing

• Add the lemon juice at the very end. Simmered lemon juice loses its brightness and can turn slightly bitter, and the whole character of this sauce is that sharpness.
• Greek oregano is worth seeking out. It is sold on the branch in Greek, Turkish and Cypriot grocers and keeps its punch for a year, unlike supermarket dried oregano which fades fast.
• If you have roasted potatoes in the same tin as the lamb, the sauce will be cloudier and slightly thicker from the starch. That is a good thing, not a fault.
• Do not be tempted to thicken this with flour or cornflour. It is meant to pool around the food and soak in, and a thick version tastes wrong against the lemon.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps three days in the fridge. It separates as it cools, which is just the olive oil, so whisk it as it reheats. Freezing is possible for two months but the fresh lemon note dulls, so add a fresh squeeze after reheating.

Questions people ask