Easter Sunday, the first serious feast of the year (I’m sorry, gorging on pancakes in February just doesn’t cut it), is a day filled with traditions and a great excuse to cook for a crowd. In my family it’s always been a day for a roast chicken rubbed with butter, lemon and thyme, a thick cut of beef with a salty mustard crust or a leg of lamb studded with rosemary and garlic. Side dishes are equally important; creamy, baked dauphinoise potatoes, honey-roast carrots, and steamed greens make a regular appearance on our family dinner table. However, in more recent years, in the search for new inspiration and a break from tradition, I’ve looked to alternative cuts of meat, interesting spices and innovative side dishes.
My Easter menu this year takes inspiration from flavours found both at home and farther afield.
We are at that beautiful moment of the year where new season spring produce is about to burst into bloom and on to our plates. In the interim there is local bounty to be foraged. There are few times when I would suggest you don rubber gloves and pick weeds from the hedgerows, but in the case of a silky nettle soup, an ideal Easter starter, it is worth the trouble and the effort.
Food purists will rightly argue that the best time to enjoy lamb is in the summer months, after it has had time to be finished on spring grass. However, it continues to be popular as part of the Easter festivities, and lamb shanks baked with Middle Eastern aromatics and served with a spiced hummus and a vibrant herb salad makes an unconventional but welcome change to proceedings.
On a day filled with chocolate eggs, your secret weapon is to be a fresh injection of citrus to a light and creamy lemon ricotta tart – an (almost) sin-free dessert that is as delicious as it is sophisticated.
It’s often said that you shouldn’t try new recipes when entertaining but if you’re feeling adventurous this Sunday and looking for a break from the norm, put your faith in this somewhat alternative Easter menu.
Nettle soup
This is a recipe from food writer Theodora FitzGibbon, who in turn received it from Declan Ryan, former Michelin-starred chef turned champion bread baker. “This nettle soup is a great favourite in the spring, when the nettles are young. Nettles are full of minerals and vitamins, which purify the blood. Nettle soup is still served in some hotels in Ireland. Use gloves and a scissors when cutting the nettles. Do not gather them from sprayed verges or after the end of May, as they will be too tough.” As an optional garnish, whizz up chives with an Irish oil and drizzle over the soup with a little double cream.
Ingredients (serves 6; cooking time: 50 mins)
- 100g butter
- 1 large leek or 2 medium- sized leeks, chopped
- 4 cups nettle tops, chopped
- 450g potatoes, sliced
- 1 litre chicken stock
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 150ml cream
- Chive flowers to garnish
Method
Heat the butter until foaming. Add the chopped leek and the nettle tops and cook until they look glossy.
Stir in the potatoes, then add the stock.
Simmer gently for 30-35 minutes.
Sieve or liquidise the soup, return to the heat, season to taste and add the cream.
Garnish with chive flowers and serve hot.
Slow-baked spiced lamb shanks with herb salad and spiced hummus
The spice rub used for this recipe is one that I have used frequently, particularly if I can get my hands on fresh turmeric. Of course you can use dried but there is a pungency to the fresh root that outdoes the powder. The mix can be used to marinade chicken or fish and, especially delicious if either are cooked over hot coals. Feel free to cheat and buy store-bought hummus but do add this to the plate for its sharp creaminess. The beauty of this dish is it can be made the night before or up to a few days in advance and will improve with a little time spent in the fridge.
Ingredients (serves 4; cooking time: 130 mins)
For the lamb shanks:
- 1-2tbs rapeseed oil
- 4 lamb shanks (about 400g each)
- 4 red onions, sliced in quarters, roots intact
- 500ml lamb, chicken or vegetable stock
- Sea salt and ground black pepper
For the spice rub:
- 1 thumb-sized piece fresh turmeric, finely grated
- 1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger, finely grated
- 8 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 1tbs ground cumin
- 1tbs ground coriander
- 1tbs cayenne powder
- 1tbs smoked paprika
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
- 2tbs sesame seeds
- 6tbs rapeseed oil
For the hummus:
- 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 1tsp of freshly ground cumin
- 1tbs of tahini paste
- 1tsp of cayenne pepper
- Juice of half a lemon
- A good pinch of sea salt
For the salad:
- A good handful of coriander, leaves picked
- A good handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked
- A good handful of mint, leaves picked
- A good handful of dill, sprigs picked
- 100g rocket leaves
- 75g sliced almonds, toasted
- 3tbs extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of ½ lemon
Method
For the spice rub, place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add a generous seasoning of sea salt and ground black pepper. Add the lamb shanks to the mixture in the bowl and toss to coat. Leave the shanks to marinate in the fridge covered for 30 minutes or ideally overnight to allow the spices to permeate the meat.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Place a large frying pan over a high heat. Add a glug of oil and brown the lamb shanks on each side. Remove the lamb shanks from the pan and place along with the onions in a large, high-sided roasting tray. Deglaze the pan using the chicken stock and then pour this into the base of the roasting tray. Cover the tray tightly with tinfoil and bake in the oven for 2 hours or until completely tender. The meat should be almost falling off the bone but still holding its shape.
Pour the chickpeas into a food processor and add the garlic cloves, olive oil, cumin, tahini paste, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and sea salt.
Blitz until smooth, and if your mixture looks a little too stiff, simply loosen it with a little water. The hummus will last covered in a fridge for four to five days.
For the salad, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice and season generously to taste. Add the remaining ingredients just before you are ready to serve and toss through the dressing to coat.
Serve the lamb shanks with the red onions, a dollop of hummus and the fresh herb salad.
Lemon, ricotta & pine nut tart
This is an Italian-inspired dessert something close to a lighter take on a baked cheesecake. Garnish with a dusting of icing sugar, honey and thyme sprigs
Ingredients (serves 8; cooking time: 60 mins)
For the pastry:
- 200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 100g butter, very cold and cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
- 60g ground almonds
- 60g icing sugar, sifted
- Zest of ½ lemon
- A pinch of salt
- 3tbs ice-cold water
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1tsp vanilla extract
For the filling:
- 300g ricotta cheese
- 100g mascarpone
- 100ml cream
- 5tbs honey
- 6 large free-range eggs, separated
- Zest of ½ lemon
- 3tbs lemon juice
- 150g pine nuts
To serve:
- Icing sugar, to dust
Method
For the pastry, put the flour and butter into a mixing bowl and, using your fingertips, lightly rub them together until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the ground almonds, icing sugar, lemon zest and salt and mix through.
Make a well in the centre and gently incorporate the cold water a little at a time. Just before the dough comes together, add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix through. Turn out the mixture on to a clean work surface and knead lightly just until it forms a ball.
Press into a flat circle, wrap in clingfilm and allow to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Grease a 20cm pie dish, 4cm in depth, and dust with flour. Roll out the dough into a circle on a clean, floured work surface, to about 5mm thick.
Transfer the rolled-out pastry to the tin and gently press it into all the sides. Roughly trim off most of the excess but leave some all round the edge of the tin to allow for shrinking.
Don’t panic if the pastry breaks at all, just press it together with your fingers and repair any cracks with a little of the trimmed pastry. Chill in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Prick the pastry base with a fork, line with some scrunched-up grease-proof paper and pour in baking beans or dried pulses.
Place in the oven for 15 minutes, then remove the grease-proof paper and beans and cook for a further five minutes, until lightly golden. Remove from the oven, trim off the remaining excess pastry and set aside on a wire cooling rack.
For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat together the ricotta, mascarpone, cream, lemon zest and juice, honey and egg yolks until smooth.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Take a large dollop of the egg whites and beat this through the ricotta mixture. Gently fold through the remaining egg whites until just combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pastry case and decorate with pine nuts before placing in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until slightly set on the sides but still wobbly in the middle.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for at least one hour.
Once cool, dust with icing sugar and serve in generous slices.
