Lamb is traditional for an Easter feast

by MICHELLE VOLLEMAERE
Hang on in there, Lent is nearly over. After weeks of abstinence,
Easter is just around the corner.
On an irreverent note, have you noticed how Lent is the perfect time
to start a new diet or to break a bad habit; to give up foods that make you fat or unhealthy — the carbs, sugar, pies, alcohol, coff ee and chocolate (my special weaknesses) or all of the above.
What about people who give up swearing? What they do to mark the end of their 40 days of restraint while we are feasting — let loose a
bout of bottled-up invective?
Speaking of feasting, the traditional roast lamb is as synonymous
with Easter as chocolate eggs and hot cross buns. But although the
eggs and the buns have been in the shops almost since Christmas and,
overtaken by rampant consumerism, have all but lost their religious significance, the Paschal Lamb, merged into Christianity from its origins in Jewish Passover observances and with its connection to the Christ, the Lamb of God, is still the most significant Easter food in Western Christian celebrations.
My very unscientific Google and Wikipedia research reveals that
at Passover, the Hebrews would sacrifice a lamb to be roasted and
eaten (including the head, feet and entrails) with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.For a more contemporary version, I think a leg of lamb from the butcher will do, flavoured with rosemary, lemon, garlic and paprika and roasted in the oven or on the barbecue.
Assuming you will all partake in the Eucharist on Easter Sunday,
which will take care of the unleavened bread requirement, I have
swapped it for roasted hasselback potatoes. How you choose to interpret the bitter herb part is up to you — I am going for steamed green beans and broccoli, but a salad of baby spinach and rocket might be closer to the mark.
In any event, after six weeks of self-denial, it’s time to enjoy your special feast and crack open chocolate eggs.
But in case you gave up swearing, may I suggest you delay your
post-lenten gratifi cation for a few days so as not to put people off their dinner.

Recipes

Hasselback potatoes
Choose red or white potatoes or a mixture of both. Any size is fine as long as they are all approximately all the same size. Allow at least two per person.
Red and/or white potatoes — washed but not peeled. Waxy potatoes give the best results.

Olive oil for roasting
Salt and pepper
Heat the oven to 200C.

With a very sharp knife, cut slices about 5mm wide into the potatoes but stopping about 10mm from the bottom so that the slices are still connected to the potato. You can do this along the length or width of the potato or, if you are feeling confident, do both for a criss-cross pattern.
Rub the potatoes in oil and sprinkle with salt.
Put into an oven dish and roast in a 180- 200C oven for one hour.
The slices will fan out a bit as the potatoes roast.

Lemon and paprika lamb

The Mediterranean flavours of lemon, rosemary and garlic infuse the meat giving it a flavour which is equally fantastic whether it is served hot or cold.

1 leg of lamb approx 1.5kg
1 lemon
8-12 small sprigs rosemary
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced longways into slivers
2 red onions
1 large carrot
¼ bunch of celery – the flavour is best in the bottom part
¼ tsp paprika (preferably sweet)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 pinches each of salt and pepper
Juice of ½ lemon

Preheat oven to 220C
Peel, halve and slice the onions. Wash and chop the celery and carrot into chunks. Scatter the vegetables into the base of a large roasting dish. These aromatic vegetables are known as the holy trinity of the cooking world and will impart all their flavour to your roast.
Peel long strips of skin from the lemon skin. Cut them in half lengthwise and crosswise, so that each strip will give you four pieces. Break the rosemary into small sprigs. Peel and cut the garlic into slivers.
With a very sharp knife, score a diamond grid across the fatty skin of the lamb. Pierce the meat at regular intervals (not at every intersection) and insert a small sprig of rosemary and sliver of garlic wrapped in a strip of lemon peel. With your finger push it as deep as you can into the meat.
Mix the oil, paprika, lemon juice and salt and pepper in a small bowl and brush it all over the meat, doing the underside as well.
Place the lamb on top of the vegetables and put into the oven or covered barbecue. Cook for 20 minutes at 220C and then turn back to 180C and cook for a further 2 hours and 10 minutes without opening the oven, except to add the potatoes.
When the meat is cooked remove it from the oven. Cover the roasting dish with tinfoil and put a clean tea towel on top to keep it warm. Leave the meat to rest for at least 20-30 minutes.
When you are ready to serve, remove the meat from the dish. The vegetables have done their work and can now be discarded.
If you plan to carve the meat at the table and you want to make an extra impact, you can carefully pull out all the cooked rosemary sprigs and replace with fresh ones before it comes to the table.
Carve the meat and serve with the hasselback potatoes and salad or steamed greens.

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Michael Otto

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