Share your Easter menus!

[bughunter]

I’m starting to think about what to cook for Easter Sunday - I’ll be feeding 10 adults and 5 kids. It’s my favourite weekend of the year 😀 and I love cooking the Sunday meal.

In the past I’ve done traditional roasts, buffets, and all sorts! This year I’m considering an old faithful (slow cooked harissa lamb), and a new favourite which is a cabbage gratin.

If you’ve started planning please share your menus - I’ve had lovely ideas from here before. Sorry if a thread already exists but I couldn’t see one!

I’ve worked out Sunday lunch: butterbean, pesto and spring green pie with Chartenay carrots and new potatoes, followed by rhubarb crumble or lemon curd hot cross bun pudding. We’re going to a buffet on Good Friday and I’m taking spanakopita

Oh wow that sounds delicious! That pudding sounds immense!!

I'm hosting a similar number.

Quail egg canapes

Side of salmon (maybe en croute)/ slow cooked lamb, wild garlic mayonnaise
Pommes boulangere
Seasonal veg

Chocolate mousse

Our traditional Easter meal has long been a spiced smoked leg or shoulder of lamb (we have a proper outdoor hot smoker). The spice mix is just whatever I throw together but usually smoked paprika, cumin, tumeric, oregano, maybe some chilli, bit of orange juice for basting.

We have that in flatbreads with various salads, usually some halloumi, hummus, olives, yoghurt, often I made a raita/tzatziki like thing too.

We’d have that with a fresh fruity sort of pudding, maybe like a summer pudding with custard, or a berry or cherry pie with ice cream.

The nice thing about this is that you can scale it up. The bulk of the meal is sides, salads and toppings, so lamb will stretch a long way. You can also make everything but the lamb in advance.

Talk to me about the quail egg canapés @Tdp123i always wonder if they’re v fiddly to peel??

Haven't really given it too much thought yet - probably just boiled eggs with some kind of salty/ spicey mix to dip them in (shichimi?)

@Tdp123 would you mind sharing your boulanger potatoes recipe? I'm thinking of doing this to go with leg of lamb, but I've seen a few variations. I'm put off by the version we used to have as kids which had too much liquid and a horrible boiled onion flavour to it. I'm sure it could be much nicer! Otherwise I'll be cracking open the cream again for gratin dauphinoise.

Hot cross buns and coffee ☕ with a cigarette for dessert 😂😂😂

I don't really do recipes, but I think the keys are:
1, really good stock - ideally home made - certainly not a crappy stock cube
2, starchy, not waxy potatoes (King Edward, Maris Piper
3, cook low and slow - a bit of a rest when it comes out of the oven is good too.

Thank you. Do you cook the onions at all beforehand?

No - just slice them thinly, they should be nicely done after a couple of hours.