Easter feasting: The best recipes to celebrate the long weekend
CELEBRATE the long weekend with delicious treats the whole family will love.
Decorate raisin and candied fruit swirls with pretty flower petals (left)
Raisin and candied-fruit swirls
Makes: 16
Preparation time: 15 minutes plus 30 minutes’ refrigeration time
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
100g (3½oz) dried mandarins
50g (1¾oz) dried strawberries
100g (3½oz) dried golden berries
75g (2¾oz) raisins
60g (2oz) butter
60g (2oz) sugar
2 tsps ground cinnamon
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
500g (1lb 1¾oz) all-butter puff pastry
Flour, for the surface
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
Chop up the mandarins and strawberries then mix with the golden berries and raisins.
Gently melt the butter with the sugar, ground cinnamon and both zests.
Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 45x40cm (17¾x15¾in) rectangle.
Spread the butter mixture evenly all over the pastry then sprinkle with the dried fruit mixture.
Roll up the pastry into a large sausage, starting at the shorter edge. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes until firm.
Using a sharp serrated knife, cut 2½cm (1in) wide slices and lay the cut side down on a parchment-lined baking tray with a 4cm (1½in) gap in between each swirl – you will need to do this in 2 batches. Using the palm of your hand, gently push down on each swirl to flatten them down to 1cm (½in).
Lightly beat the egg with the milk and brush the mixture all over the swirls.
Put back in the fridge for 10 minutes then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
Using a spatula, remove the swirls from the baking tray to a cooling rack. The swirls are best served warm. Decorate with edible flowers, if you wish.
Grilled asparagus, glazed tomatoes and marinated feta
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 orange
3 tbsps olive oil
250g (8¾oz) feta
A handful of mint
500g (1lb 1¾oz) heirloom cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
400g (14oz) asparagus
Salt and pepper
Mix the juices with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl. Crumble the feta into the bowl and roughly tear in the mint. Mix and allow to marinate.
Place a frying pan over a low heat with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil then add the cherry tomatoes. Roll the tomatoes around in the oil and cook until slightly softening then add the balsamic vinegar and reduce until it becomes a sticky glaze.
Place a griddle pan on a high heat until very hot. Remove the woody bases from the asparagus and place flat on a griddle pan at a right angle to the bars for 2 minutes on each side.
Toss the asparagus in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place on a serving dish then spoon over the glazed tomatoes and crumbled feta.
Dip delicious sweet potato latkas in crème fraîche (left)
Sweet potato latkas with crème fraîche
Makes: 10
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes
1 red onion
2 sweet potatoes
2 large eggs
3 tbsps plain flour
Seeds of 10 cardamom pods, bruised
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp flaky salt
A good grind of black pepper
4 tbsps rapeseed oil
Crème fraîche, to serve
Peel, quarter and finely slice the red onion then place in large bowl.
Peel the sweet potatoes and grate on the largest part of a box grater or through a food processor. Mix with the sliced red onion.
Beat together the egg, flour, cardamom seeds, ground ginger, salt and pepper.
Pour the egg mixture over the sweet potatoes and mix well.
Place a frying pan over a high heat with the rapeseed oil until almost smoking.
Make 10 equal-sized balls and carefully put them into the hot oil. Using the back of a spatula, push the balls down into flat potato cakes about 2cm (¾in) thick – you will need to do this in 2 batches. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden then place on paper towels to dry off some of the oil.
Serve with crème fraîche.
Baked duck eggs with wild garlic, truffled mushrooms and pancetta
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
1 tbsp olive oil
250g (8¾oz) chestnut mushrooms
100g (3½oz) baby spinach
100g (3½oz) wild garlic tops
Salt and pepper
1 tsp truffle oil
Smoked pancetta, diced
Butter, for the ramekins
150ml (5¼fl oz) double cream
4 duck eggs
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
Place a frying pan over a high heat with the olive oil. Finely slice the mushrooms and sauté in the pan until golden brown. Add the baby spinach and wild garlic, season with salt and pepper, drizzle with truffle oil, wilt for 30 seconds then remove to a cool plate or tray.
Add the pancetta to the same pan and cook over a medium heat until crispy and golden. Drain on to paper towels.
Lightly butter 4 ramekins then divide the mushrooms, wilted spinach and wild garlic evenly between them, creating a well in the middle for the duck eggs to sit. Pour the double cream in evenly between the ramekins.
Crack 1 duck egg into each ramekin, place in a deep-sided oven tray and put in the oven with the rack slightly out. Pour boiling water around the oven tray until it comes halfway up the ramekins then cover with silver foil or a lid.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the whites are fully cooked and yolks are soft.
Carefully remove from the oven then sprinkle with the pancetta and a good twist of black pepper.
Give lamb shoulder the Persian touch with pomegranate salsa
Persian lamb shoulder with pomegranate salsa
Serves: 6-8
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 4-5 hours
For the marinade:
3 tsps pomegranate molasses
2 tbsps olive oil
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 tsps ground cumin
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 chilli, chopped
2 preserved lemons, sliced
A pinch of saffron strands
1 tsp flaky salt
For the roasting tray:
1x2kg (4lb 6½oz) lamb shoulder
2 onions, peeled
1 garlic bulb, peeled
For the pomegranate salsa:
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp pomegranate molasses
½ tsp rose-water
Juice of 1 lime
200g (7oz) baby plum tomatoes, halved
6 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
1 red chilli, diced
Seeds of 2 pomegranates
A bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Preheat the oven to 140°C/275°F/gas mark 1.
Mix all of the marinade ingredients together.
Line a large roasting tray (so that the lamb shoulder will fit) with foil – enough to wrap around the whole lamb.
Chop the onions and crush the garlic bulb. Sprinkle on to the roasting tray to act as a trivet for the lamb.
Place the lamb on to the trivet. With a knife, carefully make about 15 incisions all over the lamb – this will allow the marinade to work into the meat.
Rub the marinade all over the meat and add half a cup of water to the roasting tray – don’t pour it over the meat and wash off the marinade. Tightly wrap with the foil and roast in the oven for 5 hours. Roll back the foil and roast open for the final 30 minutes or until it is nicely coloured.
Mix the olive oil, pomegranate molasses, rose-water and lime juice in a bowl. Add the tomatoes, spring onions, chilli and pomegranate seeds. Mix together then finish with the parsley.
Recipes written by home economist Dominic Hoyle / Props: 12-piece Avignon dinner set, £59, M&S (0333 014 8000, marksandspencer.com)
Photographs by Winfried Heinze