Currabinny cooks: Our easy Easter feast has something for everyone 

A vegetarian pie, Easter lamb and a yummy side 

This Greek feta and spinach pie is the perfect vegetarian showstopper. 

Easter always seems to me to be the first real taste of spring, usually coinciding with a spot of nice weather, daffodils, birdsong and of course, sowing lovely seeds for late spring and summer produce.

Although as a holiday, Easter seems to come and go without too much fanfare.

We of course have great memories of Easter egg hunts and great feasts of lamb and hot cross buns. These days, it doesn’t occur to us much to take time for this holiday any more; slow cooking a leg of lamb for hours or even getting around to exchange easter eggs.

The vegetable aisles seem to be fully stocked with wonderful spring produce despite the challenges of growing in February and March.

In recent years the availability of things like Irish lamb from good producers, proper Greek feta cheese, organic cider vinegar, and almost every type of herb and condiment you could ever need has transformed how and what we cook.

With time management in mind, we always try to develop recipes which don’t require endless prep, hours of cooking and difficult to source ingredients.

The only thing we had to go out and forage was fresh wild garlic, but we have a number of good spots nearby so even that wasn’t too much hassle.

This easy Easter menu is about as simple as it gets and is for recapturing the magic of Easter when you simply don’t have the time to make a fuss.

Easter lamb

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

This recipe is fairly simple although it does require you to remove the bone from your leg of lamb the reward is you have a shorter cooking time and also can make a delicious bone broth. If you can’t find wild garlic, use around 8 cloves of garlic, finely

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 60 mins

Cooking Time

 1 hours 30 mins

Total Time

 2 hours 30 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 1.5-1.8kg bone in leg of lamb

• Handful of fresh parsley, chopped

• 2 tbsp of wholegrain mustard

• Handful of fresh wild garlic chopped

• Sea salt and black pepper

• For the broth:

• Bone from the lamb

• 1 onion, peeled and cut in quarters

• 1 carrot, washed and cut into chunks

• 1 celery stalk, chopped

• 2 bay leaves

• Handful of parsley sprigs

• Sea salt and black pepper

• 100ml of red wine

• 1.5 litres of water

Method

1. Remove the bone with a sharp knife, taking care to leave the meat as instact as possible, coming away with an almost clean bone. You can ask a butcher to do this for you and give you the bone separately.

2. Lay the boneless meat out flat on a board and place a sheet of clingfilm over it. Give it a good bashing with a rolling pin so as to flatten the meat out so that it is all even. Season the meat generously with sea salt and black pepper.

3. Mix together the mustard and chopped parsley and wild garlic and then spread this on to the meat. Starting from the narrowest side, roll the meat up tightly and then tie with kitchen twine. Make sure it is nice and secure and won’t fall apart when cooking.

4. Meanwhile heat a little oil in a medium-sized saucepan and sear the bone or bones on all sides and then add the chopped vegetables to the pan. Stir around for a minute or two and then pour in the red wine, bay leaves and parsley. Simmer until the wine is reduced by half and then pour in the water.

5. Season with plenty of salt and pepper as you bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer for around an hour until the liquid has reduced significantly. Strain this liquid and taste to see of you need to adjust seasoning.

6. Preheat the oven to 190ºC.

7. Heat a little oil in an ovenproof pan and sear the rolled leg of lamb on all sides. Place in the oven for around an hour and a half to reach medium to medium rare.

8. Check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer, it should read around 58ºC.

9. Take out of the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes, covered in a little foil. Carve up and serve with plenty of the bone broth poured over.

Tomato, horseradish and herbs

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

Horseradish is such an unexpected delight when paired with tomatoes, turning a simple salad into something with a little bit more intrigue and complexity with the absolute minimum effort.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 10 mins

Course

 Side

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 400g cherry tomatoes

• Handful parsley, chopped

• Handful marjoram, chopped

• Handful chervil, chopped

• Sea salt and black pepper

• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 thumb horseradish root, grated

• 1 tsp of caster sugar

Method

1. Slice the tomatoes in half and lay on a serving platter. Sprinkle the sugar all over, then season with sea salt and black pepper.

2. Drizzle over the apple cider vinegar and scatter the herbs on top. Grate the horseradish generously over the lot and serve.

Greek feta and spinach tart

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

This is a great alternative if you are having a meat-free Easter. This recipe is based on the very popular Northern Greek dish, spanakopita which essentially means spinach pie. Using filo pastry will give you the best results but if you cannot find, then

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 50 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Greek

Ingredients

• 200g baby spinach leaves

• 120g sundried tomatoes

• 150g feta cheese, crumbled

• Small handful of pine nuts

• 2 eggs

• Handful of wild garlic (optional)

• 125g filo pastry

Method

1. Toast the pine nuts on a dry hot pan until golden and then leave to cool.Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Blitz the sundried tomatoes in a food processor or bash them in a pestle and mortar until you get a paste.

2. Cook the spinach with a splash of water in a saucepan over medium heat until completely wilted. Drain as best you can and place in between two kitchen towels, pressing down on them to release any residual moisture.

3. Chop this up and place in a bowl with the sundried tomato paste, crumbled feta, chopped up wild garlic and two beaten eggs.

4. Line an ovenproof cake tin, frying pan or cast iron pan with some parchment.

5. Place a layer of filo pastry down, brush with some of the oil from the sundried tomatoes and then place another layer down, repeating until you have around four layers on the bottom, forming a rough circle.

6. Place the filling in the middle and then even it out, leaving a few inches around the side, scatter the pine nuts on top.

7. Close the sides up so that you have a round tart with an open top.

8. Place a few smaller pieces of filo on top, brushing with oil so everything sticks.

9. Place this in the oven for 30 minutes until the pie is golden brown. Leave to cool slightly before serving in generous slices.